Tiebreak defeat as a wake-up call
On Court 2 of IGA Stadium in Montreal, Arthur Rinderknech and Miomir Kecmanović served up a gripping three-set thriller. The Frenchman, seeded 23rd in the draw, suffered an early setback when Kecmanović claimed the opening set in a tiebreak 7-5 and appeared to have the momentum firmly in his favour. But Rinderknech showed tremendous resilience and fought his way back into the match.
The first set was a true reflection of how evenly matched the two players were. Neither could apply sustained pressure on the other, with service games largely held — until the tiebreak forced the issue. Kecmanović took his chance and pocketed the set, but the balance of power was far from settled.
Rinderknech takes control
From the second set onwards, Rinderknech imposed himself on the match with his serve. Firing an impressive 21 aces — compared to just three from Kecmanović — the Frenchman made it abundantly clear who held the superior weapon in the battle of serves. His serve win rate of 88 percent on service games underlines that dominance emphatically.
The key to Rinderknech's turnaround was his ability to convert his own break points while fending off his opponent's: he saved 86 percent of the break points he faced, while Kecmanović could only save 64 percent of his. That disparity told in the second and third sets, both of which Rinderknech took 6-4. Kecmanović, who managed to break his opponent's serve on just 13 percent of return games, had few answers for a Frenchman firing on all cylinders.
Strong record, next challenge ahead
With this victory, Rinderknech extended his head-to-head lead over Kecmanović to 3-1. It was a statement performance from the Frenchman, who bounced back in Montreal after a first-round exit in Kitzbühel against Sebastian Báez. Rinderknech, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 24 in May 2026, is hitting his best tennis at exactly the right moment at this prestigious ATP Masters 1000 event.
Kecmanović, who had impressed in the first round against Michael Zheng, bowed out despite a decent showing. His return game simply wasn't enough to stay competitive over three sets against the big-serving Rinderknech. For the Serb, the tournament ends at the second-round stage.
