ATP MONTREAL NEWS & NOTES
*In the alternating Canadian landscape, this year’s Masters 1000 returns to Montreal after being played in Toronto last year. In Toronto in 2025, Cash-Glasspool took the titles as the two seeds. They edged (6)Salisbury-Skupski 6-3, 6-7(5), 13-11 as 1.68 (-147) favorites.
*The last time this stop was played in Montreal, it was top seeds Granollers-Zeballos rolling in the title match 6-2, 7-6(4) over (3)Ram-Salisbury. Between Montreal and Toronto the last three years, a top three seed has won the championship match each year. There has only been one unseeded finalist in that three year stretch. That last unseeded finalist was Arevalo-Rojer, who won the titles in 2023 in Toronto. Coincidentally, the last unseeded champion when this tournament is held in Montreal was Granollers-Zeballos in 2019.
*The last time the National Bank Open was in Montreal, there were eight underdog wins out of the 31 completed matches. Five of those were in the opening round with 3.35 (+235) being the largest score. All five involved seeds losing, but that was also back when 16 pairs were seeded. The other three dog hits came in the second round. Last year in Toronto, there were also eight total u-dog wins. A massive 4.36 (+336) winner in round one highlighted those with (7)Harrison-King falling in that match to Draxl-Harper. Five of the Toronto dog scores were also in round one with two involved seeds losing. The dog hunt in Canada looks best suited to the early rounds.
*There were eight matches that ended in super tie breaks in Montreal back in 2024. Of note, both semifinals finished with STBs to make it eight of the last ten semifinals in Montreal going the distance. By contrast, only one of the last six semifinals when this stop has been played in Toronto have needed the extra frame. The semis might be a good place to plant your STB freak flag and the opening round is usually another good spot, although last time in Montreal there were just three STBs in round one.
*Even though seeds have been the winners in Canada lately, that doesn’t mean out old friend, the UNSEEDED MENACE, has no place in Montreal. Last time the tournament stopped here, it was the year of over-seeding, so it’s harder to see how unseeded pairs fared since they have 16 of the 32 pairs seeded (so stupid). Last year in Toronto, half the quarterfinal field was unseeded and Gonzalez-Molteni slipped into the semifinals as an unseeded pair. In 2022 in Montreal when we had a normal seeding process, there were five quarterfinalists that were unseeded and three of them advanced to the semifinals. That was a recurring theme in 2019 when all four semifinalsts in Montreal were not seeded, so it will pay to focus on the unseeded field I think. That’s up in just a minute.
*As the hard court Summer goes into its biggest events headed towards the U.S. Open, the story isn’t necessarily about the top of the doubles race for a spot in Turin. Instead, it’s how the race near the last few spots will be shaped over the next month:
With Puetz taking time off, the Germans are unlikely to hold their spot too much longer as Krawietz pairs with Herbert leading up to the U.S. Open. Krajicek-Mektic are the ones to watch for me. They still have a lot of room to make up, but they’ve been hot over the last two tournaments. Another solid run this week can help them cut significantly into the deficit to catch the 7th or 8th spot. The pressure is squarely on Arribage-Olivetti to try and get a few wins to stave off the rest of the field.
If Montreal follows suit from Toronto last year and to its own history in the normal seeded years in recent times, we should see multiple unseeded pairs in the quarters and at least one in the semifinals. Who could that be? Let’s take a look at those danger duos who could “faire du bruit” in Canada.
Krajicek-Mektic
I talked them up earlier as one of the in-form pairs coming to Canada, so they have to be on the list. They’ll have to knock off (7)Andreozzi-Guinard just to get going, but they did beat them in Miami earlier in the year. A win there should give them a reasonable chance to compete for a spot in the final four with Bolell-Vavassori as the other seed in their quarter. Every match is big for them as they try to chase down a spot in the Tour Finals, so the effort will definitely be there.
Rinderknech-Vacherot
We’ve already seen this French pair do damage with a stunning trip to the Indian Wells final this year. Some of that certainly was draw-driven, but they took advantage and got the wins. They’ve only paired once since then, but that showed promise with a 10-8 super tie break loss to Arevalo-Pavic in Monte Carlo. They could have to fight through DC champs Cash-Glasspool just to get to a quarterfinal and probably Heliovaara-Patten to see a semifinal. That’s a lot, but I think they’ll at least make it interesting it that quarter.
Arribage-Olivetti
They’re rarely out of matches, but they’ve also rarely gotten big wins when the big tournaments come calling. They’re going to need some if they want to keep their spot in the top eight. They could at least have a shot for a quarterfinal, but it won’t be easy. Schnaitter-Wallner first and likely Harrison-Skupski in round two. The good news is they own a win over Harrison-Skupski this year, but the bad is that Schnaitter-Wallner took them out in a super tie break in Munich earlier this year. Still, that shows the competitive streak they have, it’s just a matter of getting wins at these tournaments with premium points.
Pavlasek-Rikl
I’m curious to see them on hard courts. So far, all their work has come on clay (17-8) and grass (6-3). Wins over Arribage-Olivetti, Cash-Glasspool and Harrison-Skupski say they can be a factor. They’re in a quarter with Arevalo-Pavic anad Krawietz-Herbert as the seeds. Arevalo-Pavic usually do well during this swing, but they’ll be coming to Montreal with no matches since losing the Wimbledon final. It’s doubtful that costs them early, but Pavlasek-Rikl could be a very dangerous round two opponent if the Czechs get through Doumbia-Reboul in round one.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
Last time this tournament was in Montreal, half of the top eight seeds went out in round one. The run prior to that in 2022, three seeds went down early in Montreal. Last year in Toronto, two seeds went one and done. Let’s take a look at the seeds who could be in trouble early this year.
(7)Andreozzi-Guinard
I touched on this one earlier, but they have one of the toughest draws to start with Krajicek-Mektic. Krajicek-Mektic are in off a loss in the DC final and made the quarters at Wimbledon in the tournament prior. They’re on a bit of a roll, while Andreozzi-Guinard have done well with only four opening match losses out of 15 tournaments played. One of those four losses however was to Krajicek-Mektic in Miami.
(8)Krawietz-Herbert
We’ve only seen them pair once in Kitzbuhel and it was successful with a semifinal showing, but two of their three matches required super tie breaks. They were set to battle Auger-Aliassime/Diallo in round one, but an injury to FAA has that pair out of the draw as an alternate is waiting to be named. Let’s not forget last week in DC, we saw a similar situation with Behard-Chandrasekar put into the draw at the last minute after a withdrawal. They wound up making the semifinals. I’ll update their 1st round opponents as soon as I see it.
DRAW PREVIEW
Click HERE for the doubles draw
TOP HALF
First Quarter
There are some dangerous floates in this section that could keep us from seeing a (1)Heliovaara-Patten versus (6)Cash-Glasspool quarterfinal. In the top half, Heliovaara-Patten return for the first time since winning Wimbledon for a second time. They’ll be hoping for some better luck in Montreal as their last trip in 2024 saw them retire mid-match after banging heads during the match that resulted in concussions for both. Buse-Cobolli in round one should afford them time to shake off any potential rust. Round two should be more difficult with Miedler-Polmans or Goransson-Ruud waiting. Miedler-Polmans suffered their first loss after winning back-to-back titles on clay. The 7-6, 7-6 loss to Andreozzi-Guinard in Washington should signal to the field that they’re going to be a tough out on this surface too. Goransson-Ruud did have an unexpected run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals back in 2021, but that’s the last time they paired up. I look for Miedler-Polmans to advance and be a pest for the top seeds.
The bottom half sees Cash-Glasspool coming in hot after winning their 2nd title of the season in Washington, DC. They should be able to continue that roll with Cerundolo-Etcheverry up first. The singles pair are 0-10 lifetime on hard courts with just one set won! A win could set them up to see one of the Unseeded Menaces if Rinderknech-Vacherot do their thing in round one. The Frenchies battle Darderi-Tabilo who have only teamed up twice with a 1-1 record. For me, this might be the match that holds us back from seeing the 6th seeded Brits get another crack at Heliovaara-Patten. Those two pairs have played seven times in the last year and a half with Heliovaara-Patten having won the last three in straight sets. That includes meetings this year in Doha and Dubai on hard courts. Heliovaara-Patten have made eight finals in 12 tournaments in 2026, so they’re huge favorites regardless of who steps in their path.
Second Quarter
Bolelli-Vavassori are the lead seeds here and made the quarterfinals the last time the National Bank Open was in Montreal in 2024. They’re sitting pretty in the fourth spot in the live rankings, so there’s not a current danger that they’ll be out of the running for the Tour Finals. They could use some momentum though with just a 3-2 record since making the French Open semifinals. There is a definite opportunity for that in Canada. First up is Luz-Matos, a pair that has fallen off since a hot start to the season. They’ve bounced back lately with a finals run in Estoril and they made the Los Cabos semifinals last week, but this is a huge step-up in competition. Quite frankly, they just haven’t been good enough against the top tier pairs with a 1-8 record against team currently ranked in the top eight. The winner survives to see Cabral-Tracy or Ram-Salisbury. The Ram-Salisbury reunion has been rough with a 1-2 record and Ram nursing a calf injury earlier. Cabral-Tracy play just their second match together, so that’s a real toss-up. Either way, I like Bolelli-Vavassori’s chances to making at least the quarterfinals.
The other half may well come down to who gets out of that first rounder between (7)Andreozzi-Guinard and Krajicek-Mektic. With singles pairs Khachanov-Rublev and Arnaldi-Musetti in the other match in this quadrant, I think you like the specialists in this part of the draw. Khachanov-Rublev have lost four of their last six matches in 2026. They’re 1-3 all-time in Canada between Montreal and Toronto. Their Italian opposition pair together for the first time, but Musetti has had plenty of doubles success albeit mostly with Sonego. Arnaldi is the question mark with less dubs experience and not much in the way of results with four losses in five matches in 2026. Still, this could just be about chemistry and finding the right fit and we won’t know until Arnaldi-Musetti get on court. Most of me thinks they can at least make this competitive.
TOP HALF FORECAST
You’ve got a trio of teams who have good momentum coming to Montreal: Heliovaara-Patten, Cash-Glasspool and Krajicek-Mektic. The other pair I’d watch are Bolelli-Vavassori who have a decent set up. The Italians have been a thorn in the side of 2026’s stars, Heliovaara-Patten. Bolelli-Vavassori have won the last two meetings in straight sets to overturn a four match win streak for Heliovaara-Patten. Cash-Glasspool have been on the wrong side of recent clashes with the top seeds. Krajicek-Mektic look the likeliest of the unseeded pairs to make a run if we get one, although a real surprise like Rinderknech-Vacherot could be a longshot look as well as Miedler-Polmans who could get an early shot at the top seeds in round two. Still, it’s difficult to look past what Heliovaara-Patten have done all year. They’ve also made four finals in their last five tournaments. That said, this has been a cranky spot in the schedule for them each of the last two years, so there is plenty to prove and reason to believe that another pair could emerge from this half.
SEMIFINAL PIX: (6)Cash-Glasspool vs (4)Bolelli-Vavassori
BOTTOM HALF
Third Quarter
(3)Arevalo-Pavic lead the charge in this quarter. Hard courts haven’t been great for them in 2026 with just one final in six tournaments played. This was also a mediocre part of the slate for them in 2025 with quarterfinals in both Toronto and Cincinnati, plus a second round exit at the U.S. Open. They open against Michelsen-Tjen who do have some time shared on the doubles court. They nearly beat Heliovaara-Patten in Rome, so they’re not a pushover. All three of their doubles matches in 2026 have gone to super tie breaks, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see them push the three seeds the distance to start. The survivor there will have a tough look at either Pavlasek-Rikl or Doumbia-Reboul. Doumbia-Reboul had to pull out of DC in the quarterfinals last week due to injury. Apparently they’re good to go, but this a tough matchup and a real 50/50 call. Doumbia-Reboul have only lost one opener on this surface in 2026. Pavlasek-Rikl are one of my favorite pairs right now, but this is their first hard court match of the season. Still, they have done well on both clay and grass, so I’m thinking they will be fine here too. They won title in Umag post-Wimbledon before crashing out in Kitzbuhel the week after in round one. That was just their third opening loss at a tournament this year. Something has to give here, but either way I expect the winner can pose a significant challenge for Arevalo-Pavic.
In the top half, it’s (8)Krawietz-Herbert as the seeds. I talked about them a bit earlier and we are still awaiting word on their first round foes as an alternate entry has yet to be named. It’s a tough spot to be in as they have to change up their preparation for a new pair, but they’re probably more focused on their own game in the mean time a the main prep. The other match in this segment pit semi-regular partners Melo-Zverev against Canadian wildcards Chan-Galarneau. It’s their first time pairing together, so even with Melo-Zverev having lost seven of their last ten, it’s a tall-task. The one twist here could be motivation as Zverev crashed out in singles on Tuesday, so does he care much about being here? Melo-Zverev have lost five openers in eight tournaments this year. They’re still heavy favorites with Galarneau set for his first doubles match of the season and Chan losing five of eight doubles matches. One interesting twist to note, Chan did have a competitive loss in his ATP main draw doubles debut in Dallas earlier this year. He paired with Frenchman Rolland de Ravel to take Frantzen-Haase to a super tie break. I think best case scenario for the Canadians here is dragging Melo-Zverev to a STB where anything can happen. Krawietz-Herbert just might have a shot to make a mini-run here with this set-up depending on who their round one foes are.
Fourth Quarter
(2)Granollers-Zeballos are back in a familiar setting in Montreal that has bred two championships in 2019 and 2024. They also draw a familiar foe in Nys/Roger-Vasselin to open. They will be hoping to shake off a disappointing second round exit at Wimbledon when they square off against Nys-ERV for the fourth time. They’re 3-0 against them including a pair of straight sets wins this year in Miami and Paris. Nys-ERV have shown a more competitive streak here in the last six weeks or so. Maybe having played in DC last week will give them an opportunity to at least grab a set this time against the second seeds and make things more interesting. The winner should be set up for success in the next round, although Canadian wildcards Draxl-Harper would be intriguing in that spot. They go against Maroszan-Medvedev in round one, a winnable match. That Canadian pair hulked up in Toronto last year to stun Harrison-King in the opening round, but Granollers-Zeballos would definitely be in another stratosphere if that’s the matchup. Draxl-Harper last played together in Davis Cup action back in February, a very competitive loss to Luz-Matos in three sets. Keep your eyes on these guys.
(5)Harrison-Skupski lead the other half and open with Bhambri-Venus. Bhambri-Venus have been scuffling of late with opening losses in two straight and three of their last five tournaments overall. This is another tough draw for them as they’ve had trouble contending against the top tier teams alive in the doubles race (1-5). Harrison-Skupski are still a bit middling, but they haven’t dropped an opener since mid-April in Barcelona. That’s not to say this may not get interesting at some point, but given Bhambri-Venus’ inability to beat the better teams this season, I’ll stick with the seeds here. The other match in this half should be a BANGER with Arribage-Olivetti up against Schnaitter-Wallner. They’ve split two matches with the Germans winning earlier this year in a super tie break on clay in Munich. Arribage-Olivetti won last year indoors in Almaty, which jives with where they’ve done some of their best work. Schnaitter-Wallner have not been productive on hard courts (3-5), while Arribage-Olivetti have also stumbled a bit at 9-8. The survivor will likely put up a good fight against Harrison-Skupski who have failed to get to a final since winning the Australian Open.
BOTTOM HALF FORECAST
I’m intrigued to see if Granollers-Zeballos can “turn it on” as they show up cold post-Wimbledon. It’s obviously something they have lots of experience with and this stop has been very good to them in the past. Interestingly, Harrison-Skupski do own a win over them at the Australian Open, but something tells me if that happened again now, the result could be very different. I think Arevalo-Pavic are another seed that that has plenty to prove during this stretch after the way things went for them in 2025 during the Summer hard court swing. They do have a decent draw, so I would not be surprised to see them make a run. Sleepers in this half include Pavlasek-Rikl, the winner of that Arribage-Olivetti/Schnaitter-Wallner contest and with the way the draw is set up, (8)Krawietz-Herbert deserve a little sleeper talk even though they’re seeded. There’s definitely a path for them this week.
SEMIFINAL PIX: Pavlasek-Rikl vs (2)Granollers-Zeballos
It’s a big start to the meat of the North American hard court swing with the back-to-back bloated Masters scheduled in Montreal and Cincinnati that will chew up this entire month of August. That means precious little opportunity to make a move if you lose early, so every round should be treated with a bit of urgency. Granollers-Zeballos have been so comfortable here in the past that you have to include them among the top contenders, not that it’s a big stretch to say a two seed is a top contender, right? Cash-Glasspool found a groove last week, but they didn’t have the toughest draw in DC. I think they might need someone to do the heavy lifting and take out Heliovaara-Patten for them to have a true shot, but given the top seed and their struggles in this stretch of the season before, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. That’s obviously my thinking with my earlier predictions. The seed that may outperform some expectations are Bolelli-Vavassori. I do like their draw and think it may well come down to them and Krajicek-Mektic for a semifinal spot. As far as outsiders, Krajicek-Mektic will again lead the way there with maybe someone like Pavlasek-Rikl being a deep sleeper. Should be a great tournament with all the big boys out to make their mark as the year-end race continues to heat up.
Granollers-Zeballos
Bolelli-Vavassori
Krajicek-Mektic
If you find anything here or on my Twitter or BlueSky feeds useful and want to throw a few coins my way, you can do that by clicking the link below. I truly appreciate the likes and views each week and don’t expect much in the way of donations, but am thankful to those who have and any who will in the future. That keeps me going during the weeks when balancing real life with this side project get tough. See you on the socials this week.
