Alex de Minaur is the highest seed remaining at the Montreal Masters and will seek a fourth-round spot when he faces Cameron Norrie on Thursday. The winner will go up against either Arthur Fils or Mariano Navone.
Cameron Norrie vs. (3) Alex de Minaur
De Minaur and Norrie will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers when they clash in round three of the National Bank Open on Thursday. The head-to-head series is all tied up 3-3, with Norrie leading 3-1 on hard courts. They have already met twice this season; Norrie prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in Indian Wells before De Minaur got the job done 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2 on the red clay of Monte-Carlo.
Another good one should be in the cards for the Montreal fans. Norrie is obviously the underdog as the No. 37 player in the world to De Minaur’s No. 7, but he is off to a fantastic start north of the border. The British left-hander erased both Camilo Ugo Carabelli and Ignacio Buse in straight sets to secure his spot in the last 32. De Minaur followed up a bye with a 6-2, 7-6(6) victory over James Duckworth, bouncing back nicely from a Washington, D.C. quarterfinal loss to Brandon Nakashima. The Aussie may be rounding into form after taking some time off after Wimbledon, so look for him to have a very slight edge on Thursday.
Pick: De Minaur in 3
Mariano Navone vs. (18) Arthur Fils
From completely out of nowhere, Navone has found some footing on hard courts in 2026. The 44th-ranked Argentine had been a horrendous 11-23 all time on outdoor hard courts prior to the start of this season, but he is 8-5 on the surface this year. That includes Montreal victories over Matteo Berrettini and Valentin Vacherot.
Up next for Navone is a third consecutive injury-plagued opponent in the form of Fils. When healthy, however, Fils has been awesome in 2026. The 24th-ranked Frenchman comes into this match with a 24-9 record after beating Zachary Svajda 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on Wednesday. Even though Navone is starting to show some effectiveness on the hard stuff, you have to think that he would only have a realistic chance in this particular matchup on clay.
Pick: Fils in 2
WWW?
I dunno about de Minaur here. Norrie is a tough matchup for him and he’s only played Duckie since losing to Nakashima. Time off was getting married. Norrie is playing solidly.
Also I like a healthy Navone on the back of two solid victories against decent players here (who also bagelled two quality opponents in Kitzbühel) against the often injured Fils.
Well, you called it on Fils, Ricky, that was a very decisive win!
De Minaur out in three. The highest seeds left are Shelton, Lehecka and Ruud.
I wonder what the chances are that we’ll have a first-time Masters 1000 winner in Montreal!
Demon was up 5-2 double break in the second set, and had an MP
Yeah. Too many mayches like this for him since last year. Like vs Cobolli recently at Wimbledon. It’s becoming a gremlin and it encourages his opponents to persist.
Full marks to Norrie though for hanging in. Sometimes people don’t play freely too until they have their back against the wall.
I kinda think de Minaur reached his peak level a while back. He’s already spent his lifetime finding extra gears to get him where he got to despite the height/serve disadvantage, and got that hip injury last year from his signature thing of moving like Road Runner.
I’d love to see young Fils play a year without injury.
Demon in 2; fils in 2.