Defending Champion Jannik Sinner Beats Borna Coric in Montreal in Return from Tonsillitis

Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand against Borna Coric of Croatia in the Men's Singles second round match during Day Three of the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open at Stade IGA on August 8, 2024 in Montreal, Canada. (Getty Images via AFP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand against Borna Coric of Croatia in the Men's Singles second round match during Day Three of the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open at Stade IGA on August 8, 2024 in Montreal, Canada. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Defending Champion Jannik Sinner Beats Borna Coric in Montreal in Return from Tonsillitis

Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand against Borna Coric of Croatia in the Men's Singles second round match during Day Three of the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open at Stade IGA on August 8, 2024 in Montreal, Canada. (Getty Images via AFP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand against Borna Coric of Croatia in the Men's Singles second round match during Day Three of the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open at Stade IGA on August 8, 2024 in Montreal, Canada. (Getty Images via AFP)

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner opened his National Bank Open title defense with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Borna Coric on Thursday in the second round of the National Bank Open.

Sinner missed the Olympics because of tonsillitis after a quarterfinal loss to Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon. In January, Sinner beat Medvedev in the Australian Open final for his first Grand Slam title.

“Very happy and excited to go back on court,” Sinner said. “It was a tough match, but I served quite well in important moments and returned well in the games when I broke him. So a very positive start.”

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev routed Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-1 for his ATP Tour-leading 48th match victory of the year.

Rain wiped out the night session. Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz was set to face Thanasi Kokkinakis when the rain hit, and Arthur Rinderknech led Flavio Cobolli in the fourth game. The all-American clash between Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda also was postponed.

Earlier, the third-seeded Medvedev and eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas were eliminated.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Medvedev 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, and Kei Nishikori topped Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev, the Russian who won the 2021 US Open, had 17 unforced errors and won just 32% of his second-serve points.

Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev advanced with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Sixth-seeded Casper Ruud outlasted James Duckworth 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3.



Real Madrid Signs Young Left Back Alvaro Carreras from Benfica on a 6-Year Deal

Alvaro Carreras. (Getty Images)
Alvaro Carreras. (Getty Images)
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Real Madrid Signs Young Left Back Alvaro Carreras from Benfica on a 6-Year Deal

Alvaro Carreras. (Getty Images)
Alvaro Carreras. (Getty Images)

Real Madrid reached a deal to sign Alvaro Carreras from Benfica on Monday, bringing back the young left back who came through the Spanish club's youth squads.

Madrid said the 22-year-old Carreras is arriving on a six-year contract. Financial details of the transfer were not immediately released.

Carreras played in Madrid's youth academy from 2017-20. The Spaniard joined Benfica from Manchester United after being named the English club's best under-23 player of the 2021-22 season. He won this year's Portuguese League Cup with Benfica.

Carreras will be officially introduced by Madrid on Tuesday.

Madrid was eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals of the Club World Cup.

Madrid had a disappointing season by its standards, finishing runner-up to rival Barcelona in La Liga and being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League despite having signed France star Kylian Mbappe last summer.