Brandon Nakashima and Arthur Rinderknech are part of a completely wide-open bottom quarter of the Montreal draw and they will square off on Saturday. Luciano Darderi and Nuno Borges are also on the fourth-round schedule.
(23) Arthur Rinderknech vs. (28) Brandon Nakashima
This is generally Nakashima’s favorite time of year, and early returns on the North American hard-court swing are once again encouraging. The world No. 31 is coming off a semifinal showing in Washington, D.C. (lost to eventual champion Taylor Fritz in three sets) and has advanced to the National Bank Open fourth round with victories over Daniel Altmaier and Titouan Droguet.
Up next for Nakashima is a second encounter with Rinderknech, whom the American defeated 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5 on the clay courts of Lyon in 2023. The 2026 campaign has been mediocre at best for Rinderknech, who still has a losing record (16-17) following Montreal wins over Miomir Kecmanovic and Frances Tiafoe (by retirement). Nakashima is in better form right now and is a superior hard-court player, so he should have the edge over the 29th-ranked Frenchman.
Pick: Nakashima in 2
Nuno Borges vs. (19) Luciano Darderi
Darderi and Borges will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Saturday. Borges leads the head-to-head series 3-1 (2-1 on the main tour) and won their only previous hard-court contest 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 last year in Auckland. Darderi, however, won their most recent meeting last month on the red clay of Bastad via a 7-6(9), 6-4 decision.
Borges has a great opportunity to turn the tide of this matchup back in his favor. The world No. 55 from Portugal has reeled off six sets in a row since dropping his first set of the tournament to Aleksandar Kovacevic, following up that comeback victory with convincing defeats of Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Yannick Hanfmann. Darderi is playing well but may not have quite as much left in the tank. The 22nd-ranked Argentine played seven clay-court matches after Wimbledon, retired from his first match in Los Cabos, and needed three tough sets to get past Jerry Shang on Thursday in Montreal. Look for Borges to surge into the quarterfinals.
Pick: Borges in 2
WWW?
Nakashima in 3, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4.
Could Arthur perhaps still be feeling the effects of his doubles match at 11 pm last night, or is a match lasting 5 quarters of an hour too short for that?
doubles is light work
unless he went to sleep at 4 AM or something