Multiple Canadians look to advance past the round of 64 at the National Bank Open on Tuesday.
The pregame narrative: The biggest name of them all is Denis Shapovalov, and he comes into this event off the back of a victory in Los Cabos. Earlier on, Bianca Andreescu aims to turn her season around in front of her home crowd against Mirra Andreeva.
Check out my top National Bank Open predictions for July 29, including picks on Roman Safiullin vs. Casper Ruud.
National Bank Open predictions: July 29
Best Bet: Shapovalov -2.5 games (-120)
It’s hard-court season once again, and Shapovalov has always thrived on the playing surface.
With both indoor and outdoor hardcourts included, the Canadian has a 226-144 career record. On all other surfaces, he is 102-77.
In 2025, he is 11-6 on outdoor hardcourts and just won a title in Mexico, where he dominated. In fact, Shapovalov won every set in all four matches and covered this spread in each.
His opponent, Learner Tien, is a 19-year-old future star, but I think the red-hot Canadian will be too much to handle at this point.
Tien is 14-7 on the playing surface, but he falls short in the big matches. At the Citi Open, the American ran into a streaking Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and lost badly (6-2, 6-2).
The Spaniard went on to reach the final in that event, much like Shapovalov at the Mifel Tennis Open in Los Cabos.
Key stat: At the Mifel Open, Shapovalov had an average win margin of 7.5 games.
National Bank Open best bet: Safiullin vs. Ruud
Ruud -1.5 sets (+120): There is too much value here to pass up on the side of Ruud.
The Norwegian missed almost two months of action following the French Open due to a knee injury, so it’s hard to gauge how good his form is ahead of the National Bank Open.
But he’s far and away the better player in the matchup.
- Ruud is the No. 11-ranked player on the ATP tour with a 24-9 record this season.
- Safiullin is No. 82 and is 11-16 in 2025.
While Ruud has some question marks coming in, there’s no denying that Safiullin is in poor form, having lost eight of his last 10 matches.
The Russian is 7-8 on outdoor hardcourts this year, and he barely scraped by Ugo Blanchet (No. 231) in the round of 128.
Meanwhile, Ruud is 6-3 on the surface. He was able to shake off some of the rust in Gstaad, winning one match in straight sets before losing in three sets in the second round.
Best bet: Andreescu vs. Andreeva
Andreescu +5.5 games (-120): When healthy, Andreescu is a world-class tennis player, but staying healthy has been a challenge for the Canadian.
Since the concerns started in 2020, Andreescu has played fewer than 30 games in three different seasons.
She’s played 17 matches so far in 2025, and the hope is that she’s past her lingering injury concerns coming into the National Bank Open.
The good news is Andreescu looked good in the round of 128, beating Barbora Krejcikova (No. 80) in straight sets.
Andreeva is on a different level, however. She is the world No. 5 player with an incredible 20-5 record on outdoor hardcourts this season.
But this bet doesn’t require Andreescu to win. She just needs to be somewhat competitive.
This is the Canadian’s best playing surface. Andreescu has a 125-50 record on outdoor hardcourts in her career.
National Bank Open predictions made at 12:03 p.m. on 07/29/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.