Bianca Andreescu’s Toronto run came to a halt in the round of 16 at the National Bank Open on Thursday, as 19-year-old Chinese Qinwen Zheng beat her 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. The 22-year-old Ontarian lacked bite and opportunism, losing in three hours.
Zheng had six breaks, including three in a row in the final set. She completed the win on her first match point with a low-speed passing after an ineffective volley from the Canadian.
She committed seven double faults, but she made up for it with eight aces.
Zheng earned the first set with a spike, in a 12e game where she also managed a perfect cushioning.
In the second set, Andreescu took her rival’s serve at 5-5, punctuating the game with a deep backhand, returned too far by her rival. In the third set, however, the Chinese took control with a break that gave her a 3-1 lead. In the previous game, she had kept her service at zero.
Andreescu is ranked 53e at the WTA, two ranks behind Zheng. The Ontarian was the champion in Toronto in 2019, where she was also crowned in New York. In the quarter-finals, Zheng will face Karolina Pliskova, 14e first in the series.
The Czech had the last laugh 6-1, 6-7 (9) and 6-3 against third-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari.
Big surprise, earlier Thursday: Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, 24e in the world, dismissed favorite and world number 1 Iga Swiatek 6-4, 3-6 and 7-5i. Falling from Leylah Fernandez in the previous round, Maia advanced to the quarter-finals on her fourth match point, when the Pole sent a forehand off target. Swiatek hurt her own cause by committing nine double faults, which helped her rival to a 4-3 break lead.
As these lines were written, Maia was going to find Belinda Bencic or Garbine Muguruza on her way, who will conclude Thursday’s evening at Sobeys Stadium.
There will be a new champion of the event: the Italian Camila Giorgi was beaten 6-3, 0-6 and 7-5 by the American Jessica Pegula.
The seventh-seeded Pegula edged 6-4 for breaks over Giorgi, 29 in the WTA. Her next opponent will be Yulia Putintseva, who defeated Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-3, 7-5.
American Coco Gauff reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory over Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff, 10e seeded, closed the books on her first match point, when Sabalenka could not control her serve. Sabalenka, seeded number 6, threw his racket to vent the frustration, after a marathon match of 3 hours 11 minutes.
Both players were hampered by the windy conditions at Sobeys Stadium.
Sabalenka had 18 double faults and Gauff had 15. Sabalenka had 42 unforced errors and Gauff had 32.
In the next round, Gauff will face Romania’s Simona Halep, the tournament’s two-time champion. Halep defeated Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 6-2, 7-5.