Alexander Zverev cemented his status among tennis elites, clinching his 500th career match victory at the prestigious National Bank Open in Toronto.

The top-seeded German faced a challenging encounter against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the third round, ultimately prevailing with a hard-fought 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 triumph on Thursday night.

This significant milestone makes the 28-year-old Zverev the first ATP Tour player born in 1990 or later to achieve 500 match wins, further solidifying his impressive career trajectory which includes his 24th tour title won on clay in Munich earlier this year.

Reflecting on his performance, Zverev noted, “I think I started playing better from the baseline. The longer the match went on, I started to find my rhythm a bit.” He specifically highlighted an initial struggle with his backhand, an unusual occurrence for him, before finding comfort in his shots.

Zverev’s elevated top-seed position in the tournament follows the withdrawals of other top-ranked players, including world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, alongside No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic, underscoring the opportunity for him in this hard-court event.

Beyond Zverev’s milestone, the tournament also witnessed compelling upsets, notably American Alex Michelsen’s victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy with scores of 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, setting up an all-American clash against Learner Tien.

Other notable advancements included fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark overcoming Alexandre Muller of France 6-2, 6-4, positioning him to face defending champion Alexei Popyrin. Popyrin, in turn, secured his spot by outlasting 10th-seeded Daniil Medvedev in a lengthy battle ending early Friday.

The intensity continued as eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway defeated Nuno Borges of Portugal 7-5, 6-4, teeing up a match with 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov, who advanced past Emilio Nava of the United States with a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 win.