Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek of Poland cruised into the third round at the Canadian Open in Montreal on Wednesday, while Naomi Osaka of Japan fought off three match points to advance with a three-set win over Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.
Swiatek, seeded second in her first tournament since a crushing victory over the USA’s Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final, breezed past Chinese qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1, recording six service breaks. She will face Eva Lys of Germany next.
The Pole’s untroubled tournament opener followed Osaka’s battling victory over Samsonova.
Japan’s four-time Grand Slam champion saved consecutive match points in the 10th game of the second set, and trailed 5-2 in a second-set tiebreak, en route to a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 triumph.
Osaka, now working with Tomasz Wiktorowski after announcing on Monday that she had split with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, notched her first win over a top-20 player since beating Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open in January.
She had to dig deep for the win, however, after surrendering early breaks in each of the first two sets.
Wimbledon quarterfinalist Samsonova served for the match at 5-4 in the second and led 40-15. The Russian wasted a series of match points, allowing the Japanese star to pounce.
Samsonova’s double fault on a break point allowed her opponent to level the set, and after storming back in the tiebreak to force a decider, Osaka took control early, breaking the Russian twice on the way to grabbing a 4-1 lead.
“She definitely came out really hard and, for me, I was definitely overwhelmed and I didn’t know if I should also be hitting winners,” Osaka said. “But after a while I just tried to keep the ball in court,” added Osaka, who snapped a four-match losing streak in three-setters.
Osaka will next face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the sixth seed, opened her Canadian Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Laura Siegemund, avenging a third-round Wimbledon loss against the German.
Iga Swiatek cruises, Naomi Osaka battles through at Canadian Open
