Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenkaseeds number 1 and 2 respectively, They confirmed their good form on Thursday by reaching the round of 16 of the WTA National Bank Open in Toronto while Paula Badosa fell after experiencing discomfort in her legs.
Badosa arrived in Toronto with morale high, after winning the WTA 500 in Washington on Sunday, her first tournament since 2022.
The Spanish player admitted to Agencia EFE on Wednesday that after recovering from a back injury that kept him off the court last year and making changes to his technical team, he is back in the best physical and mental state.
Badosa opened her participation in Toronto on Wednesday with a resounding victory over Denmark’s Clara Tauson. And this Thursday she began her match against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, fourth seed and world number 11, with a firm stride.
The Spanish player resolved the first set by 6-3 and a good serve. But in the second set things went wrong when he started to suffer discomfort in his legs. Despite resistance, Ostapenko took the set 7-3 in the tie break.
In the third and final set, where Badosa had to be treated by the tournament’s medical staff to treat the discomfort.Ostapenko won easily 6-2, taking the match and ending the Spaniard’s six-game winning streak.
The Latvian will now face American Taylor Townsend in the round of 16 who this Thursday easily eliminated Canadian Marina Stakusic 6-0 and 6-2.
Fulfilling their duties as favorites are the first two seeds in Toronto, Gauff and Sabalenka.
The American won 6-4 6-4 against China’s Yafan Wang (72)Wednesday’s executioner of Spanish Cristina Bucsa while Sabalenka (3) easily eliminated another Chinese player, Yue Yuan (42), 6-2, 6-2.
Of the remaining seeds played this Thursday, four were eliminated. The local hero Leylah Fernández (25) lost to American Ashlyn Krueger (82) 6-4 and 6-2 while Russian Daria Kasatkina (12), fifth seed, fell to American Amanda Anisimova (132) 6-4 and 6-3.
On the other hand, the Brazilian, Beatriz Haddad Maia (22), had to withdraw when her match against British Katie Boulter (33) was played only two games due to a lower back injury.
Seventh seed, American Madison Keys (14) also withdrew, when he was playing with his compatriot Peyton Steams (53), due to an injury to the thigh of his left leg. At the time of her retirement, Keys was down 6-3, 5-7, 0-3.
The Japanese Naomi Osaka (95) lost 3-6 and 4-6 to Belgian Elise Mertens (35).
Other winners on Thursday were Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (19), American Emma Navarro (15), Russians Liudmila Samsonova (13), Diana Shnaider (24) and Anna Kalinskaya (17) and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (20).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
