Montreal: Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek cruised into the third round of the WTA Canadian Open on Wednesday as Naomi Osaka fought off two match points to advance with a three-set win over Liudmila Samsonova. Swiatek, seeded second in her first tournament since her victory over Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final, breezed past Chinese qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1, breaking Guo’s serve six times.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Swiatek’s untroubled tournament opener contrasted with Osaka’s challenging victory over Samsonova. The four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan saved back-to-back match points in the 10th game of the second set and trailed 5-2 in the second-set tiebreaker but managed a 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 triumph.
Osaka, now working with Tomasz Wiktorowski after announcing her split with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, notched her first win over a top-20 player since defeating Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open. The match required resilience as Osaka surrendered early breaks in the first two sets.
Wimbledon quarter-finalist Samsonova served for the match at 5-4 in the second and led 40-15. However, a forehand error and a weak drop shot allowed Osaka back into the match. Samsonova’s double fault on break point enabled Osaka to level the set, and she took control in the third set, breaking Samsonova twice for a 4-1 lead.
Osaka expressed her initial struggle, saying, “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.” Eventually, Osaka focused on keeping the ball in play, snapping a four-match losing streak in three-set matches.
Osaka will next face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who defeated Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the sixth seed, began her Canadian campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Laura Siegemund, avenging a previous loss to the German at Wimbledon.