Toronto | Gauff and Sabalenka get off the mark

The two top seeds, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka, opened their accounts at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, the WTA 1000 event in Toronto, with straight set wins on Thursday, while Katie Boulter earned a free passage into the 3rd-round when Beatriz Haddad Maia retired, and Elise Mertens ousted Naomi Osaka.

It’s not easy transitioning from all these different surfaces in such a short amount of time. Happy to get pushed through. It would be special to win here, especially I’m trying to get my groove on hard court. I’m not expecting much, but I’m just trying to play some good tennis.
Coco Gauff
Also out are Daria Kasatkina, the No 5 seed, who was upset by Amanda Anisimova, and Madison Keys, after the 7th seed pulled out in the third set against Peyton Stearns.

Gauff advanced with a 6-4 6-4 win over China’s Wang Yafan, while Sabalenka dispatched another Chinese, Yuan Yue, 6-2 6-2.

In her first match since being ejected from the Paris Olympics by Croatia’s Donna Vekic, the 20-year-old American fired 6 aces and delivered 60% of her first serves to dispatch Wang in 88 minutes.

“It was difficult,” Gauff said. “I think I made some more errors than I’m used to but, overall, I think I was building the points the correct way. I just have to do better making those last two balls. Overall, I’m happy with how I played.”

Gauff did not have it all her own way against the World No 72, who had won 2 matches in qualifying before beating the 2020 Australian Open winner, Sofia Kenin, in the 1st-round.

From 4-4 in the opening set, after Gauff had initially led 4-1, the World No 2 won 5 straight games to put herself on surer footing, and eventually finished it off in an hour and 29 minutes.

After scratchy starts, the American played her best in each set’s later stages, but she was the first to face break points, and she had saved 3 of them at 1-1, while the 44-minute first set saw 3 total breaks of serve, and 34 unforced errors between the two players.

Gauff’s 11 winners ultimately did a better job of balancing out her 19 miscues, and two of those winning shots came in the 10th game, in which she broke Wang for a second time.

A swinging backhand in the forecourt gave the American 0-40, and she converted on the third with a forehand crosscourt winner off of a high, looping ball that Wang had sent up to change the pace.

After starting the second down 0-3, Wang once more levelled matters, but Gauff again found another gear in the tightest moments, and she won back-to-back games, including the match’s last 6 points, to reach the 3rd-round a comfortable enough straight sets winner.

Gauff’s next opponent is Diana Shnaider, the 14th seed from Russia, who won a 3rd-set tiebreak for the second time in as many matches this week to topple Poland’s Magdalena Frech, 2-6 6-3 7-6(5).

Although they are both 20 years old, Shnaider is just short of one month younger than Gauff, with the pair born on 2 April and 13 March in 2004, respectively.

Both also are making the transition to hard courts after the grass of Wimbledon and an Olympic stint on clay at Roland Garros last week.

“It’s not easy transitioning from all these different surfaces in such a short amount of time,” Gauff said. “Happy to get pushed through.

“It would be special to win here, especially I’m trying to get my groove on hard court,” Gauff continued. “I’m not expecting much, but I’m just trying to play some good tennis.”

Two-time reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka advanced as well, easily eliminating China’s Yuan Yue in 81 minutes with the loss of just 4 games, 2 in each set.

After missing Wimbledon due to a rotator cuff injury, Sabalenka says she is feeling confident she can play without the injury on her mind.

The World No 3 is competing in her second tournament since the right shoulder injury, having made her return last week at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, where she made it to the semi-finals.

“That’s been really tricky, to play the first tournament, because you are overprotective,” Sabalenka told reporters in Toronto. “You’re trying not to overdo stuff, you are protecting your shoulder, and I think that creates more tension. I was super sore in Washington, and coming here we did a lot of recovery, a lot of mobility stretches.

“Now I feel much better with my shoulder, I realise that I don’t have to protect it, that it’s done, it’s clean, I can go for it without fear that I can get injured again.

“Right now I feel more free on court, and nothing bothering me there, and it’s out of my mind, so it means that I can stay focused on the game, and just compete, and do my best.”

Next in the Belarusian’s path is Katie Boulter, the British No 1 who is ranked 33 in the world, and advanced when 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia retired from their match after only 2 games with a lower back injury.

The Brazilian had come through a marathon 1st-round match against Czech Marie Bouzkova, last week’s finalist in Washington, which had lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes, but was soon calling for the trainer after the opening game against Boulter.

The World No 22 received lengthy treatment on her lower back and although she tried to resume, Haddad Maia swiftly conceded after Boulter levelled the set at 1-1.

US 7th seed Madison Keys also retired, with a left thigh injury, when she was down 0-3 in the third set against her compatriot Peyton Stearns, who advances to meet Victoria Azarenka, after the former World No 1 from Belarus closed out the night with a come-back win over Greet Minnen, rallying from a set down to win 3-6 7-5 6-1, against the Belgian.

American Amanda Anisimova pulled off the upset of the day, taking down Daria Kasatkina, the 5th seed from Russia, 6-4 6-3, while home favourite Leylah Fernandez, seeded 15th, dropped out with a 6-4 6-2 loss to qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, also from the USA.

Krueger next meets the defending champion, Jessica Pegula, the American World No 6, who advanced on Wednesday.

Elise Mertens, ranked 35, earned her second win of the season over former World No 1 Naomi Osaka from Japan, advancing 6-3 6-4 to the Round of 16.

The Belgian took advantage of Osaka’s erratic errors from the baseline to seal the win, and set up a meeting with 6th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova from Russia on Friday, who stopped the run of another Japanese, qualifier Moyuka Uchijima, 6-4 6-2.

Latvian 4th seed Jelena Ostapenko also rallied from behind to beat Spain’s Paula Badosa, last week’s Washington champion, 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2, and up next for the World No 11 is American lucky loser Taylor Townsend, who continued to capitalise on her second chance with a 6-0 6-2 win over Marina Stakusic, a 19-year-old wild-card from nearby Mississauga.

Of the 3 Ukrainians who made it into round 2, only Marta Kostyuk, the 11th seed, survived to fight another day at the Canadian Open after she took out her compatriot Elina Svitolina, 6-2 2-6 6-2, but Lesia Tsurenko bowed out to Anna Kalinskaya, the 11th-seeded Russian, 6-2 6-2.

Kalinskaya takes on Anisimova for a place in the quarters, while Kostyuk lines up against Emma Navarro, the No 8 seed from the USA, who defeated Poland’s Magda Linette, 6-2 6-4.