National Bank Open: Zverev claims milestone 500th ATP match win; Medvedev crashes out

Toronto: Top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday night in the third round of the National Bank Open to reach 500 match victories.

The 28-year-old Zverev — the 2017 champion — is the first ATP Tour player born in 1990 or later to win 500 matches. He won on clay in Munich in April for his 24th tour title.

“I think I started playing better from the baseline. The longer the match went on, I started to find my rhythm a bit,” Zverev said.

“It was actually my backhand that was feeling a bit off in the beginning, which is strange. Doesn’t happen very often. But after I found that shot, I was comfortable and I was happy about the level,” he added.

Zverev, ranked third in the world, ended up as the top seed, with top-ranked Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz skipping the hard-court event, which still has a week left. No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic are also absent.

Zverev advanced to face No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over countryman Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Meanwhile, former U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev was knocked out of the tournament by Australian Alexei Popyrin, after losing 5–7, 6–4, 6–4.

Earlier, Alex Michelsen of the United States upset third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Michelsen will face fellow American Learner Tien, a 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner over American Reilly Opelka.

Fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark advanced in a night match, beating Alexandre Muller of France 6-2, 6-4. Rune will play the winner of the late match between 10th-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Alexei Popyrin of Australia.

Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway topped Nuno Borges of Portugal 7-5, 6-4 to set up a match with 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia. Khachanov beat Emilio Nava of the United States 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1. Agencies

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