If double time existed in tennis, Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova would have cost their employer dearly.
In a match that started at 12:30 p.m. and was interrupted twice, each time for three hours, world No. 1 Swiatek won 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 over Muchova, 14th seed of the National Bank Open.
Swiatek therefore advances to the quarter-finals, where she will face the American Danielle Collins, who beat Leylah Annie Fernandez. It will be the third game of the day session on Friday, so it will be played towards the end of the afternoon.
The Pole is at her first tournament in Montreal, and if she did not know the IGA stadium and its surroundings, she had plenty of time to explore them. She estimates that she arrived at Jarry Park “around 9:30 a.m.,” she explained in a press briefing that began at… 10:35 p.m.!
“I mostly read a book. We have a rest room here so I stayed there, she said. Obviously, it was not easy to find the energy, but also to relax to conserve my energy. »
His reading? Cry of the Kalahari, the story of two Americans who went to study wildlife in Botswana in the 1970s. Honorable mention to Swiatek here, who took the time to rummage through his phone to find the title. We would have understood that she prefers to slip away in bed, in the shower or at the Brasserie Cherrier – her choice – whichever is more sacred. “Sorry, I don’t know the title in English!” “, she apologized.
The game was interrupted for the first time at 2:30 p.m., then resumed for 10 short minutes a little before 6 p.m., before a new interruption which lasted until around 9 p.m. “I wasn’t sure if we would actually resume play, but the organizers were hopeful that the rain would stop. So I tried to conserve my energies and it worked. The 22-year-old further added that she was still affected by jet lag.
Swiatek ran the risk of losing her world number 1 title during her tournament, since she could be caught by Aryna Sabalenka in the event of an early exit. Here she is now guaranteed to sit at the top of the rankings for a 72nd week in a row. In tennis history, only Steffi Graf (186 weeks) and Martina Hingis (80 weeks) held No. 1 longer during their first reigns.
While Swiatek overcame Muchova on center court, Russia’s Daria Kasatkina also earned her bye to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
Kasatkina’s next opponent will be third-seeded Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who beat American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-3 in 75 minutes in the final match of the evening on Rogers Court.
Another singles match, played on court number 9, saw sixth-seeded American Coco Gauff crush Czech Marketa Vondrousova, reigning Wimbledon champion and ninth-seeded, 6-3, 6-0 , in just 62 minutes.
In the quarter-finals, Gauff will find her good friend and compatriot Jessica Pegula, who defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-0 in the very first duel of the day, completed before the onset of bad weather.
There will be two round of 16 matches left to play on Friday, including the one between Liudmila Samsonova and world number two Aryna Sabalenka. The other round of 16 duel will bring together the Czech Petra Kvitova and the Swiss Belinda Bencic.
