Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev suffered shock defeats against Dutch opponents as several leading seeds crashed out of the Canadian Open in Montreal.
Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev were both knocked out of the Canadian Open by Dutch opponents in the second round.
Zverev, the tournament’s top seed, won the first set against Tallon Griekspoor in a tiebreak but then lost momentum. Griekspoor fought back to win 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4.
The result was a major surprise because Griekspoor had won only one of his previous eight tour-level matches. Zverev was also playing his first match since losing the Wimbledon final.
Medvedev, the fourth seed, lost in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp. The Dutchman won 6-3, 7-6(5), recording his first career victory over Medvedev.
The results were part of a wider collapse among the leading seeds. Taylor Fritz, Flavio Cobolli and Andrey Rublev were also eliminated, while Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew with a back injury.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic skipped the tournament, while Carlos Alcaraz was unavailable because of a wrist injury. That means the Montreal draw is now much more open, with only four of the original top 10 seeds remaining.
The main point is that two major US Open contenders suffered unexpected early defeats, while Griekspoor and Van de Zandschulp delivered two of the biggest wins of the tournament.
