Young Canadian star Jaden Weekes won the qualifier at the National Bank Open on Saturday 6-3, 6-4 against Daniel Altmaier.
Weekes, a 17-year-old Montreal native, temporarily pushed the German in 79th on the IGA Stadium show court before finally falling in an hour and 27 minutes.
Weekes is currently ranked 21st in the ITF junior rankings and was one of six Canadians in the 28-man qualifying draw at the ATP Tour event.
Italy’s Fabio Fognini defeated Toronto’s Kelsey Stevenson 6-3, 6-1 in another early game.
Later on Saturday, Toronto’s Steven Diez played Australia’s Alexei Popyrin and Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo faced Australia’s James Duckworth.
Newmarket, Ontario’s Liam Draxl was scheduled to play Japan’s Taro Daniel, and Montreal’s Juan Carlos Aguilar was scheduled to play France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
The first round of the peloton starts on Monday. Play continues through August 14 in the $6.57 million tournament.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 6, 2022.