MONTREAL — No. 1 Yannick Sinner defended his National Bank Open title with a 6-2, 6-4 second-round win over Borna Coric on Thursday.
Sinner missed the Olympics due to tonsillitis after losing to Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. In January, Sinner won his first Grand Slam title by beating Medvedev in the Australian Open final.
“I’m really excited and happy to be back on the court,” Sinner said. “It was a tough match, but I served pretty well at key moments and returned well when I broke him in the match. It was a very positive start.”
Second seed Alexander Zverev crushed Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-1 to claim his 48th win of the year, his most on the ATP Tour.
Rain interrupted the night session. Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz was scheduled to face Thanasi Kokkinakis when rain forced a stoppage, while Arthur Rinderknech led Flavio Cobolli in the fourth game. The All-American match between Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda was also postponed.
Earlier, third seed Medvedev and eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas were eliminated.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Medvedev 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, while Kei Nishikori beat Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev, the Russian who won the 2021 US Open, made 17 unpost errors and won just 32% of his second serve points.
Fifth seed Andrey Rublev advanced to the next round with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Sixth seed Casper Ruud won 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 over James Duckworth.
