Cameron Norrie produced the comeback of the Montreal Masters so far, saving a match point to knock out third seed Alex de Minaur 5-7, 7-6(7-5), 6-1 in the third round of the Canadian Open on Friday.
The British world No. 37 looked dead and buried when he trailed by a set and a double break at 2-5 in the second. De Minaur, the world No. 7 and Australian No. 1, twice served for the match, yet the decisive moments turned on his racket: holding a match point on his own serve at 5-4, he double-faulted, and he did so again to hand the break straight back after taking the lead a game earlier.
Norrie pounced, edged the tie-break 7-5 and then ran away with the deciding set, closing out a draining contest in two hours and 52 minutes.
"It was a great match to win and to test my level, and I can take so much confidence from this one," the 30-year-old said. "The level was so high the first two sets. From the beginning, [de Minaur] came out firing and I had to match it."
Norrie, who reached the Los Cabos semi-finals last week, now meets France's Arthur Fils for a place in the quarter-finals. He has won six of his past seven matches.
De Minaur's exit leaves fifth seed Ben Shelton as the only top-10 player remaining in the men's draw in Montreal, in a tournament stripped of its biggest names before it began. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and third-ranked Novak Djokovic withdrew prior to the event, top seed Alexander Zverev lost his opener, and Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Flavio Cobolli all fell in the second round.
For the Australian, the defeat is costly in the short term but manageable in the bigger picture: he can only drop from No. 7 to No. 8 in the rankings if Shelton goes on to win the title, meaning he will keep his top-eight seeding for the US Open.
Sources
- https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/articles/cr7kl7jxv59o
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-07/de-minaur-haunted-by-montreal-masters-double-fault-drama/107010090
