Thiago Agustin Tirante began the season outside the top 100. He will leave the National Bank Open having beaten the seventh seed, eliminated a former champion of the tournament and pushed his ranking toward the top 50 for the first time.
The 25-year-old from La Plata beat Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in the second round, striking 19 winners and losing a single point behind his first serve across 88 minutes, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He followed it on Friday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexei Popyrin, the 2024 Montreal champion, in 76 minutes. Tirante did not face a break point in that match, won 81 percent of points behind his first serve and 75 percent behind his second, and hit nine aces against two double faults.
The ranking. Tirante is ranked 65th. Argentine outlets, including Infobae, put his live position at No. 49 after the Popyrin win, which would be a first appearance inside the top 50. He opened 2026 at No. 103.
The pattern. This is not a single hot week. Tirante reached the third round in Madrid and the fourth round in Rome during the clay swing, and made a semifinal in Houston in April. The Montreal run matches his career best at Masters 1000 level rather than setting a new one, and the ATP counts the Fritz win as his third career victory over a top-10 opponent, after Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev. What has changed is the surface. His previous best wins came on clay; this is the first time the pattern has held on a hard court at this level.
The competition. Tirante is the last Argentine standing in Montreal after Mariano Navone, who beat Valentin Vacherot in the second round, went out in the third. He said after the Popyrin match that he is playing his best tennis and credited a hard preseason.
What is next. Tirante plays Learner Tien on Sunday afternoon on centre court, the first meeting between them. Tien is ranked 19th, won the Geneva title this season and reached the Montreal fourth round for a second consecutive year after beating Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2. Tirante is not the favourite. He was not the favourite against Fritz either.
The wider context is a draw that has emptied out. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic all withdrew before play began, Felix Auger-Aliassime pulled out injured and top seed Alexander Zverev lost in the third round, leaving defending champion Shelton as the only top-10 player still in the field. That has created a route for players who would not normally see one this deep at a Masters 1000. It does not diminish what Tirante has done to get here — he removed one of the top-10 players himself.
