Vondrousova Halts Wozniacki’s Comeback, Gauff Next; Swiatek v Muchova In Montreal

After a strong win in her return after 3.5 years away, Caroline Wozniacki got a little reality check in her second match Wednesday in Montreal at the Canadian Open Masters.

The 33-year-old Dane drew Marketa Vondrousova who was appearing in her first match since her Wimbledon title. And the lefty had no issues with Wozniacki’s counter-punching style racing out to a 6-2, 3-0 lead with two breaks.

But the Czech fell apart and the gritty Wozniacki stormed back, largely off her backhand, to win four straight games before Vondrousova righted the ship for a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

“Obviously it didn’t go the way I’d hoped, but at the end of the day I think there was a lot of positives I can bring with me,” Wozniacki said to the WTA. “I think in periods I played very well, and then in others I made a few too many unforced errors.

“All in all, I’m going in the right direction, and I think it’s to be expected after having not having played a lot of matches in a long time.”

Tomorrow, Vondrousova will now meet No. 6 Coco Gauff who continued here torrid run crushing qualifier Katie Boulter of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2.

In a battle of No. 1s, Iga Swiatek toughed out an opening set then cruised past Karolina Pliskova 7-6(8-6), 6-2.

“Well, for sure it’s nice to have some challenges and overcome them,” Swiatek said after to the WTA. “It wasn’t an easy first round, but I’m happy that I stayed solid, and I could close it in the first set.”

Swiatek dropped serve three times but broke five times to advance. She’ll now face another Czech in Karolina Muchova in a rematch of their French Open final.

“So I think any way we have to be ready for the next match and kind of expect that anything can happen because tennis can be pretty unpredictable,” Swiatek said. “You know, one player can have a bad day. At the same time the other one can play the best tennis of their life.”

Elena Rybakina came from after the rain last night, dropped the breaker but then powered past Jennifer Brady in a tight one 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-5), 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula eased past lucky loser Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 6-4. No. seed Aryna Sabalenka topped Petra Martic 6-3, 7-6(5).

Elsewhere, qualifier Danielle Collins bounced the 8th-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2. The 10th-seeded Daria Kasatkina got the better of Anna Blinkova 6-2, 7-5. Leylah Fernandez thrilled the home crowd with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win over 2022 finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Former winner and No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic battled past the United States’s Alycia Parks 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and No. 15 Liudmila Samsonova got by (20y,24r) Qinwen Zheng 6-3, 6-2.

The night wrapped just past 1am with Petra Kvitova getting past Camila Giorgi 6-0 in the third in a battle of former winners.

The Thursday ticket also includes third round play with Sabalenka v Samsonova. Rybakina takes on Sloane Stephens in a first-time tour-level collision.

Pegula plays Jasmine Paolini, Kasatkina collides with Marie Bouzkova and Collins clashes with Leylah Fernandez.

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