Toronto R1 previews and predictions: Khachanov vs. Norrie, Basilashvili vs. Brooksby

Coming off a silver-medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics, Karen Khachanov will get back in gear at the Toronto Masters on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Jenson Brooksby hopes to keep his hot streak going against Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Cameron Norrie vs. Karen Khachanov

Khachanov and Norrie will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they clash in round one of the National Bank Open on Tuesday. Norrie took a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series when he destroyed Khachanov 6-1, 6-1 on the red clay of Lyon this spring. They had previously split a pair of 2021 meetings; the Russian cruised 6-2, 6-2 on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam before the left-handed Brit won their first of two clay-court encounters 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in Barcelona.

Fast forward a couple of months and Khachanov is now an Olympic silver medalist. The world No. 28 made a run to the final in Tokyo before falling to Alexander Zverev. Norrie, on the other hand, has been hard at work on the North American hard-court swing and that decision to skip the Olympics certainly paid off. The 25-year-old captured his first career ATP title in Los Cabos before reaching the quarterfinals in Atlanta and the third round in Washington, D.C. Norrie is confident both in general and in this particular matchup, so look for his impressive year to continue.

Pick: Norrie in 3

(WC) Jenson Brooksby vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili

Brooksby has been the breakout youngster on tour in 2021–especially over the past few weeks. The 20-year-old American broke into the top 100 for the first time on Monday after making a run to the Washington, D.C. semifinals. He started the summer by finishing runner-up on the grass courts of Newport. Brooksby’s main-tour success is incredible but not surprising, as he prepared for it by reaching four Challenger finals earlier this season (won three titles).

The fact that Brooksby lost in D.C. on Saturday and does not have to play in Toronto until Tuesday gives him a fair amount of rest. He may need it against Basilashvili, who won their only previous matchup in four sets at the 2019 U.S. Open. Of course, Brooksby is a much different player now and even though Basilashvili is starting to win matches again the 42nd-ranked Georgian is still an extremely unreliable player. He has lost four of his last six matches heading into this week. A red-hot Brooksby’s all-court variety will likely be too good for the ball-bashing Basilashvili.

Pick: Brooksby in 2