Triunfazo in Montreal: Tirante shocks top‑10 Fritz
Under the bright lights of the Stade IGA in Montreal, 22‑year‑old Thiago Tirante stepped onto Centre Court with a quiet confidence, ready to chase his third‑round spot in the Masters 1000 event. The Argentine, seeded 65th, opened the match against world‑class American Taylor Fritz, seeded ninth, and secured a 7‑5, 6‑3 win to move into the third round.
The victory marked Tirante’s third triumph over a Top‑10 opponent. He had previously defeated Andrey Rublev, then ranked eighth, in Bastad 2024 and Ben Shelton, then ninth, in the Houston ATP 250 quarter‑finals earlier this season.
Fritz arrived in Canada on the back of a triumph at the ATP 500 Washington tournament, where he captured the title by beating Spain’s Rafael Jodar, seeded 15th, just days earlier. Despite that momentum, Tirante imposed his game from the first point.
The Argentine completed the match in one hour and 28 minutes, firing nine aces and unleashing 28 winners. He saved all four break points he faced in the opening set and converted three of the five break opportunities he created across both sets.
“I improved a lot from yesterday’s match to today. Yesterday I didn’t have the best sensations, but I pushed through and it’s always important to win when things aren’t going your way. It was a great match for me, we prepared well, everything went as we expected and I could beat Taylor in my first meeting with him. Beating a Top‑10 player is not easy and now I will enjoy it,” Tirante told the ATP after the win.
Having entered the tournament with a win over Canadian qualifier Duncan Chan the previous day, Tirante now looks ahead to a third‑round clash with Australian Alexei Popyrin, ranked 103rd and the 2024 Montreal champion. The win also lifts him eight places in the live rankings to 57th.
The result reinforces Tirante’s growing presence in La Masters 1000 circuit, as he has reached the third round of three consecutive Masters events – following similar runs in Madrid and Rome – despite having paused his schedule weeks earlier due to an abdominal discomfort.
His performance adds to a strong showing for Argentine tennis in Montreal, with compatriot Mariano Navone also advancing to the third round after a comeback win, while other Argentine hopes such as Tomás Etcheverry and Sebastián Báez were eliminated.