3 minute read
Australian James Duckworth has defeated rising star Jannik Sinner in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto.
James Duckworth has earned a breakthrough win at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto, defeating rising star Jannik Sinner in straight sets to shoot to the highest ranking position of his career.
But the recent woes of Australia's No.1 men's player Alex de Minaur have continued as the 12th seed was humbled 6-1 6-1 in less than an hour by Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili.
In the evening match on centre court, John Millman pushed Gael Monfils all the way in a bruising two-hour battle but ultimately succumbed 3-6 6-3 6-4.
The 29-year-old Duckworth, who'd already negotiated his way through two rounds of qualifying and defeated Taylor Fritz in the opening round, took just 76 minutes to beat Sinner 6-3 6-4 and make it into the last-16 of the Canadian Open.
Just 72 hours after claiming the biggest trophy of his career in Washington, the 19-year-old Sinner seemed a bit flat as he got broken by the man from Sydney once in each set.
The youngest player to be ranked in the world's top 15 since Juan Martin del Potro 13 years ago, Italian Sinner never got to terms with Duckworth after the Aussie had broken for a 3-1 lead in the opener.
Once he'd repelled the only two break points Sinner earned in the match in the seventh game, 'Ducks' always seemed in control as he eked out the decisive break when leading 4-3 in the second.
Duckworth's reward is a last-16 tie with world No.2 Daniil Medvedev and, regardless of the result, he'll be set to rise in the world rankings to at least No.69 next Monday, a career-high.
World No.18 de Minaur, who's not won a match since taking the grasscourt title in Eastbourne and missed the Olympics after a positive COVID-19 test, was hammered in just 56 minutes by Basilashvili - the third successive tournament in which he's failed to win a match.
Millman led by a break in the deciding set but hampered by an injury started hitting out to keep the points short.
He managed to save nine break points in the third set but ultimately couldn't deny 11th-seeded Monfils, who closed out just his fourth win in 2021.
Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz, Diego Schwartzman and Roberto Bautista Agut were the other seeded players to advance to the last 16.
However, home hopes were ended as fifth-seeded Denis Shapovalov crashed out to Frances Tiafoe 6-1 5-4 while Felix Auger-Aliassime, the ninth seed, was beaten 7-5 6-4 defeat by Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.
