Surprise at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open in Toronto with the elimination this Friday of the number one seed, the American Coco Gauff, who fell in the round of 16 in two sets against the Russian Diana Shnaider, while Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka will not disappoint.
Shnaider (24th in the world) defeated Gauff (2nd) in 70 minutes 6-4, 6-1. The Russian broke Gauff’s serve three times and managed to keep his unbeaten.
The American, who until the match against Shnaider was dominating his opponents on the hard courts of Toronto, did not have a good night on serve: he made eight double faults and had only a 50% accuracy rate on his first serve.
After the match, Gauff acknowledged that he was struggling to find his rhythm.
“I had a lot of unforced errors and a lot of double faults. She played consistently and didn’t waste any points so congratulations to her,” said the 20-year-old.
Gauff, who came directly to the Toronto tournament after playing at the Paris Olympic Games on clay, also acknowledged that it would probably be better not to go to the Canadian city.
“Sometimes I wonder if I should have played or not but in the end I want to test myself and see if I can do it, how can I do it being a bit mentally tired and physically tired,” he explained.
For his part, Shnaider, also 20 years old, admitted that the victory over Gauff was a milestone because it was the first time he had beaten a player in the top 10 of the rankings.
“And of course, reaching the quarterfinals in a 1000th event is also a milestone for me,” he added after his victory.
Shnaider will play on Saturday against her compatriot Liudmila Samsonova (13) who this Friday defeated Belgian Elise Mertens (35) 6-2 and 6-4.
The one who lived up to expectations was the number 3 and sixth seed in the world, the American Jessica Pegula, who defeated her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger (82) 6-2, 6-4. Pegula came back from 1-3 down in the second set to take the match against the 20-year-old.
With Gauff out, Pegula, 30, is now one of the main favorites to win the tournament he already won last year.
Pegula will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday against her compatriot Peyton Stearns (53), 22 years old, who faces Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (19) on Friday. With Stearns leading 6-4, 4-2, Azarenka withdrew due to a right leg injury.
Another quarterfinal will be played by Americans Emma Navarro (15) and Taylor Townsend (71).
Navarro won 7-5 and 7-5 against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (20) while Townsend eliminated Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (11) by 6-2 and 6-1.
The final match on Saturday will be between American Amanda Anisimova (132) and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (3).
Anisimova defeated Anna Kalinskaya (17) 6-2 on Friday when the Russian player retired before the start of the second set due to dizziness.
For her part, Sabalenka easily defeated British Katie Boulter (33) 6-3, 6-3 in the final match of the night.
Source: La Verdad
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