For first time in Open Era, 3 British tennis players are in the final 16 of the Canadian Open

The Canadian Open is underway this week, and of the 16 players remaining, three are British players. This is the first time in the Open era that three British men have found themselves in the last 16 of the Canadian Masters.

While former World No. 1 Andy Murray lost in the opening round against American Taylor Fritz, World No. 11 Cameron Norrie, World No. 39 Dan Evans and World No. 82 Jack Draper are in the third round in Montreal.

The Brits procured monumental straight-sets wins in the second round of the Masters event, two of them being upsets.

Cameron Norrie had a comfortable win over Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 6-2; Dan Evans managed to stun World No. 8 Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4; while up-and-coming star Jack Draper pulled off a huge upset over the third seed and World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-6 (4), giving him his first career top 10 win.

This is only the second time that three Brits will be in the Round of 16 at a Masters 1000 event, the first instance being the Madrid Open earlier this year.

In May, Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans advanced to the third round of the Madrid Open while 20-year-old Jack Draper fell short in the second round.

All three men, unfortunately, were unable to progress to the quarterfinals in Spain, with Norrie and Evans failing their next tests and Andy Murray withdrawing before his encounter against Novak Djokovic.

However, with a brilliant display of consistency at the ongoing Masters event, the future of British tennis looks bright.

---

Who will the Brits face in the final 16 at 2022 Canadian Open?

The third-round clashes are set to take place on Thursday, August 11 in Montreal.

Dan Evans will take on Taylor Fritz in what will be their second match-up within the span of one week. Evans and Fritz faced each other in the second round of the Citi Open, where the Brit was declared the winner after Fritz retired mid-match citing heat exhaustion. Evans was leading 3-6, 7-6 (6), 4-1 in the encounter after saving a match point in the second set.

Cameron Norrie will be seen battling it out against home favorite Felix Auger Aliassime on Center Court. Once again, this will be the second match-up within a week after both players clashed in the semifinals of the Los Cabos Open, where defending champion Norrie, seeded third, stunned the second seed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to make it to the final in Mexico.

Jack Draper will square off against French veteran Gael Monfils. This will be the first time the duo will face each other. The Canadian Open is Monfils’ first tournament since the Madrid Open, hence the British tennis star will go in as the favorite, having played several matches leading up to the contest.