The round of 32 continues at the National Bank Open on Friday.
The pregame narrative: Ben Shelton meets a familiar foe in Brandon Nakashima as the pair play for a third time this season. On the women’s side, Elina Svitolina and Anna Kalinskaya face off for a spot in the round of 16 in Montreal.
Check out my top National Bank Open predictions for Aug. 1, including a pick on Flavio Cobolli vs. Fabian Marozsan.
National Bank Open predictions
Best bet: Marozsan to win (-125)
This is a pick’em between two evenly matched players. But in my opinion, there are some clear advantages on the side of the Hungarian.
Since the return of hardcourt season, Marozsan is 3-1, taking all three wins in straight sets.
Cobolli hasn’t had the same success. The Italian needed three close sets to get past the No. 193 player on tour, Alexis Galarneau, in the round of 32.
For comparison, Marozsan beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (No. 28) in straight sets his last time out.
Plus, Cobolli is an underwhelming 5-8 on outdoor hardcourts in 2025.
Key stat: The Italian has held 73.5% of his service points on the playing surface this year. Marozsan has a much better 84.9% hold rate on hardcourts.
National Bank Open best bet: Shelton vs. Nakashima
Over 23.5 games (-118): On paper, a lot is working against Nakashima in this matchup.
He is 0-4 against Shelton in his career, with three of those matches contested on outdoor hardcourts.
However, after looking at the scores, those contests were competitive.
- First match: 7-5, 7-6
- Second match: 7-6, 7-6
- Third match: 7-6, 7-5, 7-5
- Fourth match: 7-6, 6-1
Despite Shelton winning every set in all four meetings, three of the four matches went over today’s total. And I know the third match was at a Grand Slam major, but two sets still would’ve been enough.
I expect another close match between two young studs who have played each other four times since the start of last season.
Best bet: Kalinskaya vs. Svitolina
Svitolina -1.5 sets (-125): In their two career meetings, Svitolina has dominated Kalinskaya.
She most recently beat her counterpart back in February, on an outdoor hardcourt, and it wasn’t close (6-1, 6-2).
Kalinskaya looked like she was turning her season around, going to the final at the Citi Open before getting smoked by Leylah Fernandez (6-1, 6-2).
And now she’s just squeaking by at the National Bank Open. She’s needed all three sets in both wins leading up to the round of 32.
On the other side, Svitolina won her first match in straight sets. She’s 33-11 overall in 2025 and 12-5 on this playing surface.
Kalinskaya is 19-17 this season (7-7 on outdoor hardcourts), falling a tier below her opponent. The world No. 13 should be able to advance comfortably on Friday.
National Bank Open predictions made at 10:20 a.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.