Aleksandar Vukic has claimed the title at the 2026 ATP Masters 1000 event Canadian Open in Montreal. The Australian right-hander defeated Chile's Marcelo Tomás Barrios Vera 7:6 (7:4), 6:2 in the final, delivering a commanding display of power on the hard courts.
A tight first set, decided emphatically in the tiebreak
The opening set developed into an intense battle between two evenly matched competitors. Both players held serve reliably for long stretches — Vukic winning 80 percent of his service games, Barrios Vera 60 percent. It took a tiebreak to separate them, and there Vukic's serve proved decisive. The Australian struck ten aces across the entire match without a single double fault, making his delivery a consistently lethal weapon. In the tiebreak he converted his opportunities clinically, winning it 7:4, while Barrios Vera was unable to capitalise on his own chances.
A key element of Vukic's dominance was his first-serve efficiency: he won 81 percent of points behind his first serve — a figure that reflects how much pressure he applied from the very first game. Barrios Vera, by contrast, managed just 62 percent on his own first serve and could make little impact in the return games, winning only 19 percent of points when Vukic landed his first delivery.
Vukic shifts into another gear in the second set — Barrios Vera has no answer
In the second set, Vukic stepped up a level entirely. The Australian converted his break points more efficiently and visibly increased the pressure on the Chilean's serve. Barrios Vera, who failed to register a single winner across the entire match and managed a return-points-won rate of just 32 percent, had no solution for an opponent now playing with total freedom. Vukic pulled away to a 6:2 scoreline, clinching both the set and the title.
The victory fits seamlessly into a remarkable run of form: shortly before Montreal, Vukic had already claimed the ATP Challenger title in Granby, extending his winning streak to at least eight matches. For the Sydney-born competitor, whose career-high ranking stands at world No. 48, the triumph in Montreal represents the pinnacle of this outstanding spell.
Barrios Vera falls short despite solid serving statistics
Marcelo Tomás Barrios Vera, who represents Chile in the Davis Cup and ranks among his country's leading singles professionals, did not go down without a fight on serve, saving 71 percent of the break points he faced. However, when it mattered most in the first set — and comprehensively throughout the second — he lacked the firepower to turn the tide. The Chilean, coached by Guillermo Gómez, converted just 33 percent of his break points, which proved far too low against an opponent who controlled the match for the vast majority of its duration. Vukic had already led their head-to-head record 3:0 heading into this final, and he made it a clean sweep with a fourth consecutive victory over his South American rival.
