Top-seeded Alexander Zverev advances in Toronto in the National Bank Open

TORONTO (AP) — Top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday night in the third round of the National Bank Open to reach 500 match victories.

The 28-year-old Zverev — the 2017 champion — is the first ATP Tour player born in 1990 or later to win 500 matches. He won on clay in Munich in April for his 24th tour title.

“I think I started playing better from the baseline. The longer the match went on, I started to find my rhythm a bit,” Zverev said. “It was actually my backhand that was feeling a bit off in the beginning, which is strange. Doesn’t happen very often. But after I found that shot, I was comfortable and I was happy about the level.”

Zverev, ranked third in the world, ended up the top seed with top-ranked Jannik Sinner — the 2023 winner — and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz skipping the hard-court event that still has a week left. No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic also are absent.

Zverev advanced to face No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over countryman Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Earlier, Alex Michelsen of the United States upset third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Michelsen will face fellow American Learner Tien, a 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner over American Reilly Opelka.

Fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark advanced in a night match, beating Alexandre Muller of France 6-2, 6-4. Rune will play defending champion Alexei Popyrin of Australia. Popyrin outlasted 10th-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that ended early Friday.

Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway topped Nuno Borges of Portugal 7-5, 6-4 to set up a match with 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia. Khachanov beat Emilio Nava of the United States 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis