World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka began her stay at the National Bank Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in the round of 64 on Tuesday in Toronto.
Sabalenka lost her first service game of the day and fell behind 2-0, but she recovered by winning five straight games on her way to the first-set triumph. To open the second set, Sabalenka and Uchijima broke each other’s serve five times in a row, leading to a 3-2 Sabalenka edge that was enough for her to soon pull away.
“I’m happy with the performance,” Sabalenka said. “I’m happy with the fight. I knew going into this match I might struggle a little bit after a little break, but I was ready for that. I’m happy that mentally and physically I was ready to go.”
Sabalenka, 28, overcame six double faults as she converted 6 of 11 break-point opportunities. The Canadian tournament is one of four WTA 1000 events she has yet to win. She reached the semifinals in 2021 but has not made it that far since.
No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek also had a less-than-comfortable first match. The Polish star faced the Czech Republic’s Sara Bejlek and raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead in just 45 minutes. But Bejlek fought back and it took another 45-plus minutes for Swiatek to finish off the victory, 6-0, 6-3.
“The first set I was playing with a lot of confidence and very straightforward, so for sure a good one,” Swiatek said. “Then, in second, parts of that were kind of the same as first. But there were for sure a few tricky games, especially the long one.
“I haven’t played a game like that in some time, so I’m happy that I won it and I was solid at the end, so for sure a good match.”
Swiatek saved 10 of 11 break points while converting half her 12 chances to break Bejlek’s serve.
Like Sabalenka, Swiatek is eyeing her first Canadian trophy after making the semifinals once in 2023.
No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine battled past Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in two hours, 47 minutes. Fellow Ukrainian and No. 10 seed Marta Kostyuk was a 7-6 (4), 6-0 winner over Canada’s Katherine Sebov.
The biggest upset of the day belonged to Australian Talia Gibson, who knocked out Polish 18th seed Maja Chwalinska 7-5, 6-1. It was a nice way for Gibson to brush off a first-round loss last week at the WTA 250 event in Memphis.
“Coming into this tournament, I just wanted to do my best to not put any pressure on myself around any results, but to find my way back into some good rhythm,” Gibson said. “I was super happy to do that in the first round and backing it up today, it felt good that I was able to go out and produce some of my best tennis.”
No. 17 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia outlasted McCartney Kessler of the U.S. 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, while American 19th seed Madison Keys prevailed 6-1, 6-2 over Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic.
Other winners included No. 15 Diana Shnaider and No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, No. 24 Anastasia Potapova of Austria and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland. In the final match of the night, the Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova defeated Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the 27th seed, 6-3, 6-4.
Tuesday also saw multiple retirements and one walkover. No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova moved on via walkover against Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee. China’s Shuai Zhang was ahead 6-0, 4-0 when No. 26 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia retired with an undisclosed injury. Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan was similarly on her way to a win, ahead 6-7 (1), 6-0, 5-2, when Czech No. 32 seed Katerina Siniakova packed it in after getting treatment done on her neck/shoulder area.
–Field Level Media
