New York: American teenager Coco Gauff will reach the highest ranking of her career after the 18-year-old defeated world number six Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the third round of the Canadian Open.
Gauff, who has never been ranked higher than her current spot of 11th, will overtake Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu and likely Russian Daria Kasatkina to move up to ninth when the next rankings are released after prevailing in an exceptionally tight match against her Belarussian opponent, reports DPA. Incredibly, both Gauff and Sabalenka won exactly 131 points each, posting identical success rates on service points (77-of-131) and return points (54-of-131).
Gauff will be considered one of the favourites in the tournament after world number one Iga Swiatek was sensationally eliminated by Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia. Swiatek was sloppy, committing nine double faults to just one from her opponent.
Two-time grand slam winner Simona Halep defeated rising Swiss talent Jil Teichmann 6-2, 7-5, utilising her dominant first serve to get the job done. Halep converted 82 per cent (32-of-39) of her accurate first serves into points, compared to just 59 per cent (29-of-49) for Teichmann.
World number seven Jessica Pegula had to save a match point on her way to a comeback 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 win against reigning Canadian Open champion Camila Giorgi, booking her quarter-final clash against Yulia Putintseva after the Kazakhstani beat Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5.
Third seed Maria Sakkari went down 1-6, 7-6 (11-9), 3-6 against 14th seed Karolina Pliskova, and the Czech will take on China’s Qinweng Zheng after she eliminated Canada’s last remaining contender Bianca Andreescu 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
In the final match of the night, Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic was incredibly impressive against world number eight Garbine Muguruza, prevailing 6-1, 6-3.
–IANS