(Montreal) The IGA stadium hosted the creme de la creme of women’s tennis on Wednesday, and they finally came to the surface.
The cream of the crop is Poland’s Iga Swiatek, world number one since April 2022. In her first career stop in Montreal, Swiatek defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova in two sets of 7-6 (6), 6- 2 in a second-round duel at the National Bank Open.
After a first set where she had to fight hard for 61 minutes before snatching the tiebreaker 8-6, Swiatek quickly won in the second set against the 23rd player in the world and two-time Grand Slam finalist .
Helped by two breaks of serve, Swiatek built a 5-1 cushion. Although she conceded a break in the seventh game, it was only a matter of time before Swiatek ended the game, which she did thanks to her third break of the second set.
“I feel like things worked out well in the last points of the tiebreaker, but for sure it wasn’t easy, especially as it was a bit windy today” , Swiatek said at a press conference.
“I’m happy with my performance and I’m glad I felt like I was improving in the second set. »
In the next round, Swiatek will find the Czech Karolina Muchova, who took the measure of the Romanian Sorana Cirstea in two sets of 7-5, 6-4.
This will be the third duel between Swiatek and Muchova, and their first meeting since their clash in the French Open final last June, where the Pole won in three sets.
Muchova had won the previous match, in 2019 in Prague.
Elsewhere, in a duel between two players from Russia, 10th seed Daria Kasatkina won 6-2, 7-5 against Anna Blinkova.
The spectators gathered around the central court were treated to the continuation of the duel which began on Tuesday evening between the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, third seed, and the American Jennifer Brady, who is making a return after an absence of two years. And they were pampered.
Interrupted by the rain when Brady led 4-2 in the first set tiebreaker, the resumption offered high-level play and several long exchanges marked by powerful strikes on both sides.
Brady was able to close out the first set in his favour, but Rybakina was able to come from behind to win 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours 41 minutes .
In the deciding set, Rybakina scored a crucial break in the eighth game, without Brady managing to pick up a single point.
With her 12th ace of the match, Rybakina secured her place in the next round, where she will face another American, Sloane Stephens.
Two of Brady’s compatriots made it through the second round with ease, World No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 7 Coco Gauff, who posted straight-set wins over Yulia Putintseva and Katie Boulter, respectively.
In the third round, Gauff will face Czech Marketa Vondrousova, who ended Caroline Wozniacki’s Montreal stay with a 6-2, 7-5 victory at the end of the afternoon on Rogers Court.
Despite her setback, the Dane drew positives from her two games in Montreal, after an absence of more than three years from the women’s professional circuit.
“Yeah, it was a tough game today. Of course it didn’t go the way I would have liked, but at the end of the day, I think there are a lot of positive things that I can take back with me,” he said. she told reporters.
“There were times I played really well and then there were times where I made a few too many unforced errors. Overall I’m headed in the right direction, and I think that was kind of to be expected when you haven’t played games for a long time. »
Elsewhere, 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland had to come from behind in the third set to defeat American Alycia Parks 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours 44 minutes.
In the evening, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked second in the world, plays her first match of the tournament, against the Croatian Petra Martic, on the center court.
This match will be followed by that between the Italian Camila Giorgi, who fell for Bianca Andreescu on Tuesday evening, and the Czech Petra Kvitova.
