Kyrgios ousts top-ranked Medvedev, Paul upsets Alcaraz in men’s tournament

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez was eliminated from the National Bank Open women’s single tournament following a 7-6 (4), 6-1 loss to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia on Wednesday.

Fernandez, the 13th seed in Toronto, was playing in her first tournament following a two-month layoff to recover from a stress fracture in her right foot that she sustained at the French Open.

She and her sister Bianca Fernandez then teamed up in the doubles tournament, losing to Andreja Klepa─ì of Slovenia and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-1, 6-2.

“It’s a little hard today because we just finished with two losses,” said Leylah Fernandez. “I’m just happy that I finally was back in competition and that we not only tested out the foot but also the body. The body feels great.

“Of course, not at the level that we want it to be, but at least we know what we need to work.”

While Fernandez showed plenty of fight in the first set of her singles match, she eventually seemed to wear against the powerful attack of her increasingly confident opponent.

After an encouraging start, Fernandez gave up the first break of the match to go down 3-2 in the opening set.

Leading 5-4, Haddad Maia converted her fourth ace of the match to give her set point. But Fernandez saved to bring the score to deuce, then converted her first break point to tie the set.

But again, the Brazilian couldn’t put the set away. A double-fault from Haddad Maia set up double break point for Fernandez, and the Canadian came out on top after a long rally to win the next point and force a tiebreak.

Haddad Maia proved too much for Fernandez in the extra session, using powerful strokes to keep the Canadian off-balance and taking a 6-3 tiebreak lead.

Fernandez saved another set point before Haddad Maia clinched it with a strong backhand to end a short rally.

Haddad Maia built on that momentum in the second set, converting an early break en route to a 3-0 lead.

Her second break of the set put Haddad Maia up 5-1, then she served to love in the final game to take the match.

In women’s doubles, Fernandez and younger sister Bianca Jolie were eliminated later on Wednesday by eighth-seeded duo Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Andreja Klepač of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2 in the second round.

No. 1 Swiatek cruises into 3rd round

Haddad Maia will next face world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who cruised into the third round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic.

Swiatek increased her hardcourt winning streak to 20 matches with a clinical performance, defeating Tomljanovic in just one hour four minutes.

‘The Polish star converted six of her nine break point chances as she connected on 26 of 37 return points (70.3 per cent).

In other early results, 10th seed Coco Gauff of the United States beat Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3). Defending champion Camila Giorgi of Italy downed Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5. And seventh seed Jessica Pegula downed fellow American Asia Muhammad 6-2, 7-5.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., the final Canadian left in the singles draw, was scheduled to face Alize Cornet of France in the final match on Centre Court. Andreescu won the tournament in 2019 when Serena Williams retired in the final match.

Williams was set to face Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic to kick the Centre Court evening session. Williams, a winner of 23 Grand Slams, is playing in Toronto a final time before retiring sometime after the U.S. Open.

Also Wednesday, No. 4 seed Paula Badosa of Spain and No. 5 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia were eliminated after retiring from their respective matches. Second-seeded Estonian Anna Kontaveit also fell.

Kontaveit was ousted 6-4, 6-4 by Jil Teichmann of Switzerland in one hour and 27 minutes. Kontaveit had her chances but converted just 2 of 8 break point opportunities. Teichmann broke Kontaveit four times in six tries.

Badosa was down 7-5, 1-0 when she was forced to retire against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Jabeur also dropped her first set before retiring down 2-1 in the second set to Qinwen Zheng of China.

Badosa was down 7-5, 1-0 when she was forced to retire against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Jabeur also dropped her first set before retiring down 2-1 in the second set to Qinwen Zheng of China.

Other seeded players to advance included No. 15 Simona Halep of Romania and No. 14 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. No. 16 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia lost to Alison Riske-Amritraj 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-5.

Kyrgios downs Medvedev; Paul upsets Alcaraz

The National Bank Open’s defending champion is out. The second seed was eliminated too and the so-called Big Three didn’t make the trip.

The draw was left wide open on Wednesday afternoon at IGA Stadium in Montreal before some players had even played their opening matches.

Carlos Alcaraz was the first to go, falling in the opening session to American Tommy Paul. World No. 1 and top seed Daniil Medvedev was next as he was dispatched by Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Sixth-seeded Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime could only hope the upset trend didn’t continue into his evening match against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Alcaraz dropped a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 6-3 decision to American Tommy Paul in a marathon that lasted three hours 20 minutes.

Kyrgios, coming off a win last week in Washington, took out Medvedev 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2. The Russian controlled the first-set tiebreaker but Kyrgios opened with a break in the second set and didn’t look back.

Medvedev, who claimed a title last week in Mexico, was handcuffed at times by the Australian’s serve-and-volley game. Kyrgios was creative, steady, and even worked in a couple underhand serves to keep his opponent guessing.

Kyrgios improved to 3-1 in their head-to-head matchups.

The top eight seeds in the 56-player draw received first-round byes. Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon final last month, defeated Argentina’s Sebastian Baez in the first round.

Paul, meanwhile, the world No. 34, saved a match ball in a tiebreaker and converted his fifth match point in the deciding set.

No. 9 Cameron Norrie of Britain dumped Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2 and 10th-seeded Taylor Fritz beat fellow American Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

Roberto Bautista Agut, the No. 14 seed from Spain, downed American Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-1 and No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria dropped a 7-6 (4), 7-5 decision to Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

Third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas was scheduled to play British qualifier Jack Draper in the late match.

Auger-Aliassime was the only Canadian left in singles play. Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil, a native of Vernon, B.C., all lost their first-round matches.

In men’s doubles play, Pospisil and Sinner were to open against the French duo of Benjamin Bonzi and Gael Monfils. Calgary native Cleeve Harper and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., were to meet Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.

After two days of wet weather and match postponements, sunny skies and warm temperatures returned Wednesday.

Play continues through Sunday at the US$6.57-million tournament.