Sabalenka flips it early
Down 2-0 to Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima on Tuesday in Toronto, Aryna Sabalenka barely blinked. The world No. 1 rattled off five games in a row to snatch the opening set and never looked back, closing out a 6-3, 6-3 win in the first round of the National Bank Open.
Here is the itch, though. This Canadian event is one of four WTA 1000s she has never lifted. Her last semi-final in the country dates back to 2021. It has been a wall ever since, even on an afternoon when she buried six of 11 break points against Uchijima.
Try it for $0.99.
Swiatek right behind her
Iga Swiatek read from the same page. The seventh seed raced to 6-0, 3-0 inside 45 minutes against Czech qualifier Sara Bejlek, wobbled for a moment, then wrapped it up 6-0, 6-3. She is chasing a maiden title here too, her ceiling so far a semi in 2023.
“The first set, I played with a lot of confidence,” Swiatek said. “In the second, there were a few tricky games.” Honest enough, with the US Open now just three weeks out.
Upsets sprinkled through the day
Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk and Madison Keys all advanced without fuss. The jolt came from Australia’s Talia Gibson, who bounced 18th seed Maja Chwalinska 7-5, 6-1. Nobody gets an easy day at this level. Not even the marquee names.
Discover the rest of the Tennis news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply