Juncheng Shang stole the spotlight at the Canadian Open 2026, also known as the National Bank Open By Rogers, on Tuesday, saving five match points to stun No. 10 seed Andrey Rublev in a dramatic three-set battle. The men’s draw also saw Alex de Minaur, Jiri Lehecka, Frances Tiafoe and Brandon Nakashima advance, while Denis Shapovalov’s injury forced him to retire. In the women’s draw, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek began with wins, while Elina Svitolina survived a marathon battle and Talia Gibson produced one of the biggest upsets of the day by defeating Maja Chwalinska.
Canadian Open 2026 Men’s Singles Results
Juncheng Shang of China pulled off a stunning upset, saving five match points to upend No. 10 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the National Bank Open on Tuesday in Montreal.
Shang, 21, is ranked 281st in the world.
Earning his fifth career Top-20 victory, Shang trailed 5-2 in the decisive third set. Shang saved the five match points on his own serve to pull even at 5-5. After falling behind 6-5, he forced a tiebreaker that was level before he won the final two points.
“Andrey is a great friend, a great competitor and a good champion,” said Shang, who saved 11 of 15 break points and overcame 12 aces by Rublev, who committed 68 unforced errors. “It is a pleasure to share the court with him since the last time we played in Hong Kong. But more happily, I’m healthy. I’m definitely playing my best tennis and just happy to be in Montreal.”
In the third round, Shang will face No. 19 seed Luciano Darderi of Italy, who advanced when Montreal native Gabriel Diallo retired from their second-round matchup while trailing 6-4, 2-3. Diallo sustained an apparent leg injury.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov also retired from his Tuesday match, stopping in the third set of his opening-round contest against Zachary Svajda.
Shapovalov was coming off a run to the final at an ATP 250 event last week in Los Cabos, Mexico, but he revealed Tuesday that he picked up an ankle injury in that match.
He trailed Svajda 6-4, 4-6, 0-3 when he ended the contest.
The former World No. 10, who has won four titles on tour but none this year, went on to express his frustration with injuries in what he described as “an annoying year.”
Svajda, who overcame 38 unforced errors as well as Shapovalov’s 6-of-9 mark in saving break points, will face No. 18 seed Arthur Fils of France in the second round.
In other second-round action, third-seeded Alex de Minaur eliminated Australian countryman James Duckworth 6-2, 7-6 (6); eighth-seeded Jiri Lehecka prevailed 6-4, 6-2 over Vit Kopriva in an all-Czech affair; 15th-seeded Frances Tiafoe overtook Croatia’s Marin Cilic 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; and 28th-seeded Brandon Nakashima cruised past Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 6-1.
The majority of the first-round matches earlier in the day went the full three sets, and they weren’t going the Canadians’ way. Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante beat Canadian qualifier Duncan Chan 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (3), and Spaniard Daniel Merida rallied past Canadian wild card Liam Draxl 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Frenchman Terence Atmane saved 7 of 9 break points and hit nine aces in battling past British wild card Jack Draper 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz knocked out Marcos Giron 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
Other first-round winners included Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, Argentina’s Sebastian Baez and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Jenson Brooksby, France’s Valentin Royer, Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, British qualifier Jacob Fearnley, Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin and Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In addition, Belgian 27th seed Alexander Blockx advanced to the third round via walkover against Spain’s Jaume Munar.
The final match of the night featured sixth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli and Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek work for opening wins in Toronto
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka began her stay at the National Bank Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in the round of 64 on Tuesday in Toronto.
Sabalenka lost her first service game of the day and fell behind 2-0, but she recovered by winning five straight games on her way to the first-set triumph. To open the second set, Sabalenka and Uchijima broke each other’s serve five times in a row, leading to a 3-2 Sabalenka edge that was enough for her to soon pull away.
“I’m happy with the performance,” Sabalenka said. “I’m happy with the fight. I knew going into this match I might struggle a little bit after a little break, but I was ready for that. I’m happy that mentally and physically I was ready to go.”
Sabalenka, 28, overcame six double faults as she converted 6 of 11 break-point opportunities. The Canadian tournament is one of four WTA 1000 events she has yet to win. She reached the semifinals in 2021 but has not made it that far since.
No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek also had a less-than-comfortable first match. The Polish star faced the Czech Republic’s Sara Bejlek and raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead in just 45 minutes. But Bejlek fought back and it took another 45-plus minutes for Swiatek to finish off the victory, 6-0, 6-3.
“The first set I was playing with a lot of confidence and very straightforward, so for sure a good one,” Swiatek said. “Then, in second, parts of that were kind of the same as first. But there were for sure a few tricky games, especially the long one.
“I haven’t played a game like that in some time, so I’m happy that I won it and I was solid at the end, so for sure a good match.”
Swiatek saved 10 of 11 break points while converting half her 12 chances to break Bejlek’s serve.
Like Sabalenka, Swiatek is eyeing her first Canadian trophy after making the semifinals once in 2023.
No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine battled past Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in two hours, 47 minutes. Fellow Ukrainian and No. 10 seed Marta Kostyuk was a 7-6 (4), 6-0 winner over Canada’s Katherine Sebov.
The biggest upset of the day belonged to Australian Talia Gibson, who knocked out Polish 18th seed Maja Chwalinska 7-5, 6-1. It was a nice way for Gibson to brush off a first-round loss last week at the WTA 250 event in Memphis.
“Coming into this tournament, I just wanted to do my best to not put any pressure on myself around any results, but to find my way back into some good rhythm,” Gibson said. “I was super happy to do that in the first round and backing it up today, it felt good that I was able to go out and produce some of my best tennis.”
No. 17 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia outlasted McCartney Kessler of the U.S. 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, while American 19th seed Madison Keys prevailed 6-1, 6-2 over Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic.
Other winners included No. 15 Diana Shnaider and No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, No. 24 Anastasia Potapova of Austria and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland. In the final match of the night, the Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova defeated Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the 27th seed, 6-3, 6-4.
Tuesday also saw multiple retirements and one walkover. No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova moved on via walkover against Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee. China’s Shuai Zhang was ahead 6-0, 4-0 when No. 26 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia retired with an undisclosed injury. Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan was similarly on her way to a win, ahead 6-7 (1), 6-0, 5-2, when Czech No. 32 seed Katerina Siniakova packed it in after getting treatment done on her neck/shoulder area.
(With inputs from Reuters)
