Valérie Tétreault, the director of the National Bank Open tournament, revealed that she diligently monitored weather forecasts a month prior to the tournament’s commencement.
Every day, she meticulously checked the weather updates, anticipating the conditions for the tournament. Unfortunately, the tournament faced a challenging day on Sunday as heavy rainstorms disrupted the men’s main draw matches in Montreal. Out of the scheduled fourteen matches, only two were completed, leading to the cancellation of the evening session featuring local players Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau.
One of the completed matches saw China’s Shang Juncheng defeating Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo before rain halted play. A brief respite allowed Spain’s Jaume Munar to finish his match against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata.
Due to the weather disruptions, two matches will need to be completed at a later time. Portugal’s Nuno Borges was leading American Aleksandar Kovacevic, while American Michael Zheng and Croatia’s Miomir Kecmanovic had yet to start their deciding set after splitting the first two sets.
The remaining scheduled matches for the day and evening sessions could not proceed, adding to the challenges faced by the tournament organizers. The extended 12-day format of the tournament offers flexibility for rescheduling matches early on, although Tétreault acknowledged the complexity of rearranging matches when rain interferes at the beginning stages.
Shang, currently ranked 270th in the world, is set to face Russian Andrey Rublev in the upcoming round, while Munar will play against 27th-seeded Belgian Alexander Blockx.
Local player Félix Auger-Aliassime, seeded second in the tournament, enjoyed a first-round bye and is scheduled to compete in the second round against the winner of a French matchup. Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov, fresh from his recent success in Mexico, is gearing up for his first-round match against American Zachary Svajda in Montreal.
