Canadian Open Day 3: Men's singles predictions ft. Lorenzo Musetti vs James Duckworth, Karen Khachanov vs Juan Pablo Ficovich

Day 3 at the 2025 Canadian Open is fully stacked. There will be 16 second-round matches from the top half of the men's singles draw and one first-round match from the bottom half of the draw. Seeded players, including top seed Alexander Zverev, will begin their campaigns in Toronto.

Other top-10 seeds in action will be Lorenzo Musetti (third seed), Holger Rune (fifth seed), Casper Ruud (eighth seed), and Daniil Medvedev (10th seed). Other notable seeds in action are the 18th seed, Alexei Popyrin, who is the defending champion, and the 22nd seed and home favorite, Denis Shapovalov.

Let's take a look at some of the matches scheduled for Day 3 at the 2025 Canadian Open

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#1 Lorenzo Musetti vs James Duckworth

Third seed Lorenzo Musetti will begin his 2025 Canadian Open campaign against Australian qualifier James Duckworth in the second round. Musetti has won 25 of the 35 matches he has played in 2025, with a runner-up finish in Monte-Carlo being his best result. His last event was Washington, where he lost 6-3, 2-6, 3-6 against Cameron Norrie in the first round.

Including Challenger tennis, Duckworth has won 25 of the 46 matches he has played this season, winning the San Luis Potosi Challenger. At the Canadian Open, he began his campaign with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Justin Boulais in the qualifier match to enter the main draw, and then began his campaign with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over Juncheng Shang in the first round.

Duckworth has won the only match against Musetti 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the 2021 Paris Masters, but current form makes the Italian player the favorite to win the upcoming match.

Predicted winner- Lorenzo Musetti

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#2 Karen Khachanov vs Juan Pablo Ficovich

In Picture: Karen Khachanov (Getty)

Eleventh seed Karen Khachanov will face Argentine qualifier Juan Pablo Ficovich in the second round of the 2025 Canadian Open. Khachanov has a 22-16 win/loss record in 2025, with two semifinal finishes at Barcelona and Halle. His last event was Wimbledon, where he lost 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (4) to Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. He began his campaign in Toronto with an opening-round bye.

Ficovich has mostly played Challenger tennis in 2025, reaching the finals of two Challenger events in Cordoba and Merida. At the Canadian Open, he won 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 against Kyrian Jacquet in the qualifier match, and then began his main-draw campaign with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Jacob Fearnley in the first round.

This is the first meeting between the two players, but Khachanov is the firm favorite to win the upcoming match, as he is the higher-ranked player.

Predicted winner- Karen Khachanov

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#3 Alexei Popyrin vs Nicolas Arseneault

In Picture: Alexei Popyrin (Getty)

Eighteenth seed and defending champion Alexei Popyrin will face home favorite Nicolas Arseneault in the second round of the 2025 Canadian Open. Popyrin has won 12 of the 29 matches he has played in 2025, with two quarterfinal finishes in Monte-Carlo and Geneva. His last event was the Citi DC Open, where he lost 5-7, 7-5, 3-6 against Wu Yibing in the first round. In Toronto, he began with an opening-round bye as he is the seeded player.

Playing mostly ITF and Challenger tennis, Arseneault has a 32-16 win/loss record, with his best result being a runner-up finish at the ITF event in Santo Domingo. He began his campaign at Toronto with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over French qualifier Valentin Royer in the first round.

This is the first time these two players will meet each other, with Popyrin being the favorite to win as he is the defending champion.

Predicted winner- Alexei Popyrin

Edited by Samya Majumdar