Toronto (AFP)
Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maya, ranked 24th in the world, achieved a “heavy caliber” surprise by eliminating the Polish top-ranked Iga Švientek from the third round of the Toronto 1,000 Tennis Tournament, by defeating her 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Haddad Maya, 26, who won the Nottingham and Birmingham titles in June, achieved her first victory over a world number one player, becoming the first Brazilian to reach the quarter-finals of one of the WTA 1,000 tournaments.
Haddad Maya from Brazil was the first to face a world number one player since Tillian Pereira lost to Serena Williams at Roland Garros in 2016, and she managed to emerge victorious after a three-hour match.
For its part, Švientek, who won six titles this season, including Roland Garros, missed her 50th victory of the season, and her career ended before the semi-finals of the third consecutive session, after she had previously exited from the third round of Wimbledon and the quarter-finals of the Warsaw tournament.
The Polish series of victories in the thousand sessions also ended at 23 consecutive matches, after a meeting during which the two players suffered from the wind.
“At first, I struggled to find my pace, maybe because it was left-handed, and I found it difficult to adapt to the way it was sent,” the Polish said, adding, “I could have handled it without the wind, but it was crazy there on the field.”
And she revealed, “In the third group, I realized what I had made mistakes, and therefore I now know what I have to work on and what I want to improve for the next session. It is a special moment.” – Švientek’s exit from the third round comes a few weeks before the start of the Flushing Meadows tournament scheduled between August 29 and September 11 Where the Polish wished to go far this time after her career ended in the second round in 2019 and the third in 2020 and the fourth in 2021.
The Polish suffered a lot in front of Haddad Maya, who forced the Polish to save 15 of the 19 break opportunities that the Brazilian got.
Šviontik also faced difficulty in serving, as she committed 9 double errors, which contributed greatly to her sixth defeat of the season, while the direct errors committed by her Brazilian opponent did not exceed the dozen compared to 28 for the world number one.
Haddad Maya commented on what she presented against Švientek, saying: “I am happy and proud of myself and my team. It is a special moment. It is not always easy to beat the world number one on a big stage and in the face of all the audience who supported her competition.”
And she continued: I think I went through very difficult periods in my career to reach this moment, all I want is to enjoy it for a while, I do not want to think about my next match, which will be against the Swiss Belinda Bencic, ranked 12 in the world, who in turn eliminated another great player after the American Serena. Williams, is the eighth Spanish Garbine Mugurosa, the 2016 Roland Garros and 2017 Wimbledon champion, by defeating her with complete ease 6-1, 6-3.
American Coco Gauff was the first to qualify for the quarter-finals, by defeating Belarusian Arina Sabalenka 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 in a marathon match that lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes.
Gauff, 18, is seeking to win her third title in her career after winning the Austrian Linz in 2019 and Parma in Italy in 2021.
But the task will not be easy, as she will meet in the quarter-finals of the Romanian Simona Halep, champion of 2016 and 2018, who beat Swiss Gilles Belen Techmann 6-2, 7-5.
Goff was on her way to an easy victory, after deciding the first set in her favour, advancing 3-0 in the second, but the Belarusian, did not give up and succeeded in making up for her backwardness before taking this set and equalizing the numbers.
The scenario was repeated in the decisive third set, but in a different way, because it was the Belarusian who advanced 3-0 before Jouf equalized and imposed a tie-breaker, before winning the match.
The Czech Karolina Plechkova, the 14th runner-up in the world and last year’s runner-up, also reached the quarter-finals, after she ousted the Greek Maria Sakkari, the third-ranked player in the tournament, with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 victory, to face the Chinese Kenwen Jing, who defeated the Canadian Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 champion, with a score of 6 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
Italian Camila Georgi ceded the title, losing to seventh American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 0-6, 5-7, to face the latter in the quarter-finals with Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who defeated the other American Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5.
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