MONTREAL — Rafael Jodar’s run at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers met its end under the lights of IGA Stadium on Wednesday, but his surge to superstardom is still well underway.

The six-foot-three Jodar's massive game shone brightly in Montreal, just as it had in Washington a little over one week ago. Jodar was a finalist there and, if not for Brandon Nakashima’s supreme showing Wednesday, the 19-year-old would’ve become the youngest male player to reach the final here since countryman Rafael Nadal did it in 2005.

Still, this 7-6 (3), 6-4 loss to Nakashima feels like but a bump in the road to prominence for the free-swinging Spaniard, who started the year ranked 168th in the world and is leaving Montreal on the border of the top 10.

Jodar’s chance to bust through that barrier was ripped away by Nakashima’s near-flawless execution on this night, but his next tournament will present him another chance to become the fastest player of the Open Era to go from top 100 to the top 10 since tennis legend Boris Becker did it in 210 days of the 1985........

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