The National Bank Open in Montreal has faced significant delays due to persistent rain. An entire day of scheduled matches was canceled, so the players had to play two matches in a single day to catch up. The top half of the quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, and the bottom on Sunday. As always, we here at LWOT will offer our predictions for the first two ATP Montreal quarterfinals. But who will advance to the semifinals?
ATP Montreal Quarterfinal Predictions
Kei Nishikori vs Matteo Arnaldi
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Kei Nishikori continued his resurgence, knocking out the in-form Nuno Borges to reach the quarterfinals. This is Nishikori’s first quarterfinals at a Masters 1000 since 2019. He played another solid match and was aggressive behind his groundstrokes, giving Borges limited chances to dictate the rallies. He has a good shot at making the semifinals here, as his opponent had to play a longer match to reach the quarterfinals.
Matteo Arnaldi was down and out against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, but he kept fighting and won due to Davidovich Fokina retiring in the third set. Arnaldi was down a set and break but he kept fighting and got the break back. He played a solid tiebreaker to win the second set and continued to get better in the third. Arnaldi dealt with the conditions better and will play his first Masters 1000 quarterfinals. Nishikori has a serious chance here, and I think he will take it.
Prediction: Nishikori in 3
Jannik Sinner vs Andrey Rublev
Head-to-Head: Sinner 5-2 Rublev
Andrey Rublev played his best match in some time to make the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open for the first time. Rublev has now reached the quarterfinal or better at all Masters 1000. Skipping the Olympics and focusing on hard courts is proving fruitful for Rublev. He looks more relaxed and plays freely.
Jannik Sinner got off to a slow start against Alejandro Tabilo but played solid on important points and won the first set. He improved as the match went on, and his serve looked sharp. Sinner is the defending champion and looks good to repeat his result from last year. He has never lost a set to Rublev on hard courts, which makes it an easy decision for me. Sinner will love the pace of Rublev’s balls and redirect them to trouble the Madrid Open champion.
Prediction: Sinner in 2
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke – USA TODAY Sports
