It was a challenging evening for the top seeds at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, and the men’s matches on Wednesday night were no exception.
In a surprising turn of events, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, Daniil Medvedev, faced off against world No. 70 Botic van de Zandschulp and was eliminated in straight sets, losing 6-3, 7-6 (5) right in Montreal, thus concluding his campaign.
Medvedev, who triumphed at the tournament in 2021 before securing his only Grand Slam title at the US Open the following month, had a disappointing early exit, having also left the NBO in the third round last year.
As one of the esteemed top seeds, Medvedev was granted a bye directly into the second round, whereas van de Zandschulp had to fend off Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday to earn his place.
With Medvedev’s departure, he joins an unfortunate list of prominent men’s players who have faced early exits at the NBO, which includes No. 1 Alexander Zverev, No. 2 Auger-Aliassime, No. 7 Taylor Fritz, No. 14 Valentin Vacherot, and No. 16 Francisco Cerundulo.
