Alex de Minaur’s torrid run of form has continued with a disastrous collapse to bow out of the Canadian Open with a shock third-round loss to Cameron Norrie.
The Australian No.1 was the top seed left standing at the tournament following Alexander Zverev’s first-round defeat and the absence of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Having made a run to the final in the 2023 event, he was among the favourites to capture a maiden Masters 1000 title, and join fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin as victors at the prestigious tournament.
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The 27-year old’s fighting spirit was on display when he overcame a Norrie double break in the first set to reel off seven straight games and claim it 7-5.
But despite holding a 5-2, 40-30 lead in the second set, he would come spectacularly unstuck after blowing the match point chance with a double fault.
In humid conditions in Montreal, de Minaur would flub another chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the second, with Norrie eventually claiming it in a dramatic tie-breaker.
An exhausted de Minaur had nothing in the tank for the deciding set, with the world No.37 powering to an emphatic victory, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in just under three hours.
Speaking after the match, Norrie said the Australian “took the foot off the gas”.
“From the beginning, he [de Minaur] came out firing and I was like, ‘Woah, this is a crazy level’,” he said.
“He was looking good in the second set and I think he took the foot off the gas very slightly and I managed to free up, steal the tie-break and then it was just a battle.
“It was a great match to win and to test my level and I can take so much confidence from this one.”
The loss is only de Minaur’s second in the last 18 months after taking the first set on a hard court.
It continues a torrid run for the world No.7, who has endured a frustrating run of defeats despite breaking through for a career-high No.5 ranking in July.
As the top seed, de Minaur crashed out of the Citi Open in Washington last week with a quarter-final loss to unheralded American Brandon Nakashima.
At Wimbledon, he reached the quarter-finals before a heavy straight-sets loss to Italian Flavio Cobolli, after which he admitted he had been “broken inside” by the heartbreaking result.
“The goals, the beliefs, the dreams that you have, they … start fading away or they feel a little bit further away than when they once were,” he said at the time.
However, off the court things have been going nicely, with de Minaur marrying women’s tennis player Katie Boulter immediately after Wimbledon.
The defeat leaves American fifth seed and defending champion Ben Shelton as the only seed in the top seven left standing after just three rounds.
Shock results in Canadian Open | 00:50
De Minaur is running out of time to find his best form ahead of the US Open in September, where he has bowed out in the quarter-finals for the last two years.
Next week’s Cincinnati Masters is the final major event before the year’s fourth grand slam.
The match was the pair’s third encounter at a Masters 1000 event in 2026, with Norrie winning in straight sets at Indian Wells in March before the Australian won a three-set affair at the Monte-Carlo Masters in April.