TORONTO — The National Bank Open took some body blows before the event due to some high-profile withdrawals.
The hits have kept coming since the seeded players took the court.
The two highest-seeded Canadians - No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and No. 22 Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., - are both out after losing their opening matches at the Masters 1000 men's tournament.
Auger-Aliassime dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Hungary's Fabian Marozsan on Wednesday night, a day after Shapovalov lost his second-round match to American Learner Tien.
"I was trying my best on every point and it's not enough," Auger-Aliassime said. "So obviously on one hand, I have to give credit to my opponent.
"On the other hand, I have to dig a little bit deeper to see where I can find solutions within myself."
Montreal's Gabriel Diallo, the No. 27 seed, is the lone Canadian left in the 96-man singles draw with a full week of competition left to play.
Diallo earned a 6-3, 7-6 (5) rain-interrupted victory over Italy's Matteo Gigante in the afternoon. Wild-card entry Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Ont., dropped a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 decision to 13th-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 5 Jack Draper of Britain and No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia are all skipping the US$9.19-million hardcourt event.
Germany's Alexander Zverev tops a seeding list that includes American Taylor Fritz, Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, American Ben Shelton and Denmark's Holger Rune in the top five.
Marozsan broke Auger-Aliassime's serve at 4-4 in the first set when the Canadian double-faulted. Auger-Aliassime had a triple-break opportunity early in the second set but Maroszan fought back to hold.
The Hungarian had a break point at 3-3 and delivered a brilliant lob that Auger-Aliassime couldn't chase down from the net. He closed out the match in one hour 41 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Diallo saved two set points at 2-5 before breaking back and eventually forcing a tiebreaker. Gigante took a 5-3 lead but dropped the last four points, including a double-fault on match ball.
"Tennis is sometimes pretty crazy with the momentum switches that you see throughout a match," Diallo said.
Diallo won his first ATP Tour title last month at a 250-level stop in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
He followed that up with a strong appearance at Wimbledon, pushing Fritz to a fifth set in a second-round loss.
They will meet again in Toronto after Fritz defeated Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 7-5, 7-6 (1) in the late match Wednesday night.
Earlier in the week, Galarneau earned his first main draw victory on the top-flight tour with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 first-round win over Arthur Rinderknech of France.
"I'm really proud (of) that," said Galarneau, who's ranked 193rd in the world. "Also proud of the fight that I put up today. I thought I played pretty well, and a lot of positives that I can take away from this week."
The afternoon session was delayed for about half an hour due to showers in the northwest Toronto area.
In other second-round matches, Shelton beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3 and sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev defeated Hugo Gaston of France 6-2, 6-3.
Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the No. 28 seed, topped China's Yunchaokete Bu 6-1, 6-4 and Australia's Aleksandar Vukic upset 31st-seeded Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3.
Australian Christopher O'Connell posted a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over 23rd-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and American Frances Tiafoe, the seventh seed, outlasted Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Czechia's Jakub Mensik, the No. 12 seed, beat American qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-4, 6-4 and 19th-seeded Czech Jiri Lehecka defeated American Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No. 20 seed, topped Corentin Moutet of France 6-4, 6-3 and 25th-seeded Brandon Nakashima got by fellow American Ethan Quinn 7-6 (6), 6-4. Arthur Fils, the No. 15 seed from France, beat Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4.
Shapovalov withdrew from doubles competition Wednesday due to a left knee injury. He was scheduled to team with Auger-Aliassime against the American duo of Robert Galloway and Nakashima.
A replacement pairing will be named a few hours before Thursday's match, organizers said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
