IT was absolute carnage in both Montreal and Toronto at the top-end as seven of the nine top five seeds in action bowed out of their respective Masters 1000 tournaments. In what showed the evenness of the overall ATP and WTA Tours at the moment, only top women’s seed Iga Swiatek, and fourth men’s seed Casper Ruud escaped with a second round win.
Swiatek took out Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic rather easily in the end, only dropping three games on her way to a swift 64-minute rout. Along with both the fourth and fifth seeds – Paula Badosa and Ons Jabeur retiring early in the second set after being down a set – second seed Anett Kontaveit also fell. The Estonian was the victim of Swiss talent Jil Teichmann who won 6-4 6-4 in their second round match, while Yulia Putintseva and Qinwen Zheng were the beneficiaries of victories over Badosa and Jabeur respectively.
Unfortunately for the home fans, top Canadian ranked player Leylah Fernandez also bowed out, with the 13th seed and US Open runner-up losing to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, 7-6 6-1. It was better news for a Canadian US Open winner, with Bianca Andreescu triumphing over the in-form Alize Cornet in three hard-fought sets, 6-3 4-6 6-3. The match of the day was American teenager and 10th seed Coco Gauff winning in three sets over Elena Rybakina. In a battle of the Roland Garros runner-up and the Wimbledon champion, it was the former who got the chocolates on hard court, winning 6-4 6-7 7-6 in a two-hour and 49-minute epic contest.
Announcing her retirement yesterday prior to her second round match, Serena Williams bowed out of the National Bank Open against Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic. In a 77-minute match, Bencic won 6-2 6-4 to advance through to the third round, with Williams only having a few weeks left in her illustrious career. Lower ranked seeds had more luck as well, with Aryna Sabalenka (sixth), Jessica Pegula (seventh) and Garbine Muguruza (eighth) all advancing to the Round of 16.
Over in Toronto, the four of the top five seeds bowed out in the ATP 1000 Masters, headline by red-hot Nick Kyrgios upstaging top seed Daniil Medvedev, reversing the pair’s result from the Australian Open Round of 64 clash, and Kyrgios advancing to a 3-1 head-to-head between the pair. Along with Kyrgios’ 6-7 7-4 6-2 victory, American Tommy Paul and British players Jack Draper and Daniel Evans all knocked out top five seeds. Paul defeated Carlos Alcaraz in a come-from-behind three-set win, while Draper and Evans beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev respectively. Norwegian Ruud became the highest ranked player remaining in the Round of 16, defeating Slovakian Alex Molcan in straight sets.
AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:
Montreal – ATP 1000 | Hard
Round of 32:
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) defeated [1] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 6-7 6-4 6-2
Tommy Paul (USA) defeated [2] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 6-7 7-6 6-3
[Q] Jack Draper (GBR) defeated [3] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 7-5 7-6
[4] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Alex Molcan (SVK) 7-6 6-3
Daniel Evans (GBR) defeated [5] Andrey Rublev (RUS) 6-4 6-4
[6] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated [SE] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 7-6 6-4
[7] Jannik Sinner (ITA) defeated [Q] Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 2-6 6-4 6-2
[9] Cameron Norrie (GBR) defeated Botic Van de Zandschulp (NED) 6-1 6-2
[10] Taylor Fritz (USA) defeated Frances Tiafoe (USA) 5-7 6-1 6-4
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) defeated [12] Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 6-4 6-2
[13] Marin Cilic (CRO) defeated Karen Khachanov (RUS) 6-3 6-2
[14] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) defeated Jenson Brooksby (USA) 7-5 6-1
Alex de Minaur (AUS) defeated [15] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 7-6 7-5
[17] Gael Monfils (FRA) defeated Maxime Cressy (USA) 7-6 7-6
Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) defeated Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (DEN) 6-0 6-3
Toronto – WTA 1000 | Hard
Round of 32:
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated [Q] Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-1 6-2
Jil Teichmann (SUI) defeated [2] Anett Kontaveit (EST) 6-4 6-4
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated [4] Paula Badosa (ESP) 7-5 1-0 RET
Qinwen Zheng (CHN) defeated [5] Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-1 2-1 RET
[6] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-4 6-3
[7] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [Q] Asia Muhammad (USA) 6-2 7-5
[8] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Kaia Kanepi (EST) 6-4 6-4
[10] Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-4 6-7 7-6
[12] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Serena Williams (USA) 6-2 6-4
Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) defeated [13] Leylah Fernandez (CAN) 7-6 6-1
[14] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Amanda Anisimova (USA) 6-1 6-1
[15] Simona Halep (ROU) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-4 6-2
Alison Riske (USA) defeated [16] Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 7-6 0-6 7-5
Bianca Andreescu (CAN) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-3 4-6 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-3 7-5
Tsitsipas’ triple treat in Monte Carlo
GREEK star Stefanos Tsitsipas has won his third Monte Carlo Masters, getting past fellow clay court talent Casper Ruud in the final. The decider on Court Rainier III lasted 97 minutes, with the 12th seed winning 6-1 6-4 over the eighth seeded Norwegian, adding the 2024 title to his back-to-back 2021-22 trophies. It is an […]
Monte Carlo madness: Top two ousted in semis
CLAY courts can tend to throw up some big results, and that was certainly the case in the semi-final stage of the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters. With the top two in the world, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner heading for a memorable final, many expected the pair to face-off in the decider. The only problem? […]
Djoker quells Demon to reach Monte Carlo semis
WORLD number one Novak Djokovic proved that bit too strong for Australian Alex de Minaur, getting home in a tight two-set match at the Monte Carlo Masters. While just a couple of breaks throughout the course of the match separated the players, Djokovic was able to move to within two victories of a third clean […]
Rune wins Dimitrov slog to reach Monte Carlo quarters
WHEN you had to play your Round of 32 match earlier in the day following rain suspension from the previous day, the last thing you want is an epic struggle, but that was exactly the case for Dane Holger Rune who needed three and half hours to get past Grigor Dimitrov and reach the Monte […]
Pop goes the Rublev, as defending champ ousted by Aussie
AUSSIE Alexei Popyrin caused a massive boilover at the Monte Carlo Masters overnight, defeating top 10 star and defending champion Andrey Rublev to set up an all-Aussie third round match with Alex de Minaur. Popyrin has always shown the potential to be a top-line player, and he put it all together against the sixth seed, […]
Demon dash – Aussie races into second round
TOP-RANKED Australian Alex de Minaur was at his brutal best, making light work of Swiss Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka to reach the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in a flurry. Needing just 63 minutes against the wildcard, de Minaur won 6-3 6-0, including the last eight games of the match. Wasting no […]
Getting his Fils: Arthur slays Hanfmann
YOUNG Frenchman Arthur Fils wasted no time in destroying his German opponent Yannick Hanfmann and making history in the process at the Monte Carlo Masters overnight. The 19-year-old Frenchman became the youngest male player from his nation to win a match at the event in almost two decades when he wiped his lucky loser opponent […]
Badosa spoils Halep return
SPANISH former world number two Paula Badosa played the role of party pooper against former world number one Simona Halep, with the latter returning to the WTA Tour for the first time in 18 months at the Miami Open. Despite Halep completely dominating the first set, Badosa worked her way back into the contest, and […]
Swiatek storms past Sakkari for Indian Wells title
WORLD number one Iga Swiatek showed no mercy against Greek top 10 talent Maria Sakkari, defeating her comprehensively in the 2024 Indian Wells WTA 1000 final, the second time in three years.The pair met back in 2022 with the result the same, though this time it was even more one-sided with Swiatek trouncing the world […]
