National Bank Open 2025 Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of the Canadian Open was not exactly must-see tennis and delivered one of the weakest range I have ever seen in a tournament of this caliber.

These new two weeks Masters 1000s may look good on paper, but for fans that keep tickets for opening Sunday, it’s a sucker’s business.

What you get is a draw full of torment, yoke records and travelers that penetrate it at almost empty stadions while the big names rest comfortably outside the site.

If you were hoping for Marquee matchups or even a whiff of top-30 talent, this was not your day.

Still, in the midst of the overwhelming lineup, some results stood out. Reilly Opelka fired 19 aces to the edge past Sebastian Ofner, Tomas Barrios Vera saved four match points to take down Gael Monfils in a narrow three-sets, and the American teen teacher Tien showed calm to move past the co-qualifier Colton Smith.

At the same time, Canadian veteran Bend Vasek Pospisil in his last professional match and lost in three sets to Facundo Bagnis.

If you skipped the first day completely you didn’t miss much. Here is a division of the full results and some highlights from an unfortunate opening to this year’s Toronto draw.

Day a Canadian open 2025 round of 128 results

Winner	Loser	Results line
Adam Walton	Benjamin Bonzi	4-6 6-0 6-3
Tomas Martin Etcheverry	Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Q)	6-4 4-6 7-5
Nicolas Arsenault (WC)	Valentin Royer (Q)	6-3 7-6 (4)
Miomir Kecmanovic	Quentin Hales	4-6 6-4 7-5
Giovanni Mpeshi Pericard	Shintaro Mochizuki (Q)	6-4 6-2
James Duckworth (Q)	Jerry Shang	6-3 7-6 (3)
Tomas Barrios Vera (Q)	Gael Monfils	6-4 4-6 7-6 (3)
Pupil Tien	Colton Smith (Q)	6-4 7-5
Reill	Sebastian Warner (PR)	7-6 (6) 7-5
Juan Pablo Ficovich (Q)	Jacob Fearnley	6-2 6-3
Emilio Nava (Q)	Zizou Bergs	6-1 7-6 (4)
Facundo Bagnem (Q)	Vasek Pospisil (WC)	6-2 3-6 6-3
Roman	Ugo blanchet (q)	4-6 6-2 7-6 (9)

Key matches

Tomas Barrios Vera (Q) Def. Gael Monfils 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) in

Tomas Barrios Vera pulled off the upset over Gael Monfils on Sunday. The 27-year-old Chilean, ranked as No. 142, saved four match points to win 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) in a two-hour, 46-minute battle.

Although he beat a set and a break, Barrios Vera released fearless tennis late in the third set, and averted match points on 4-5 with bold baseline games and deleted two more at 5-6 with an irrevocated serving and one ace.

Vera has not had a tour victory since February, so it was a tame loss for Gael but credit to the Chilean to have it done.

Teacher Tien Def. Colton Smith (Q) 6-4, 7-5

American teenage teacher Tien showed Poise in his National Bank Open debut and overcame a late wobble to defeat compatriot Colton Smith 6-4, 7-5 in 90 minutes. After losing the service while trying to close the match at 5-4 in the second, TIE regrouped and won eight of the following nine points to move on.

Reilly Opelka Def. Sebastian Ofner (PR) 7-6 (6), 7-5

Big-serving American Reilly Opelka delivered a clutch performance and overcame Sebastian Ofner in two tight sets. Opelka’s powerful games offered in tiebreak and a late break in the second, combined with their 19 aces during the match, secured his place in round 2, and he will make sure to replicate his last run in 2021.

Facundo Bagnis Def. Vasek Pospisil (WC) 6-2 3-6 6-3

Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis defeated Canadian veteran Vasek Pospisil, who competed in his last tournament before retirement.

Pospisil, a Wildcard post, could not overcome Bagni’s constant baseline game, which marks a bitter sweetness for the former world no. 25 at Hemmarken.

A good career, like all social media posts referred to? Not really, in my opinion. There were some good moments, but when he realized that the top of the game was long gone, he turned into a constant groaner about prize money, scheduling etc.