Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov ousted in Toronto

Associated PressAug 12, 2021, 12:54 AM EDT

Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO — Wimbledon quarterfinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime and countryman Denis Shapovalov were ousted from the National Bank Open in their native Canada on Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime lost his first match, falling 7-5, 6-4 to Dusan Lajovic. Shapovalov dropped a 6-1, 6-4 decision to American Frances Tiafoe.

Auger-Aliassime, who’s from Montreal, was the ninth seed in the tournament and had a bye into the second round. He was coming off an opening-round loss at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I just played a lot of tennis, even though I didn’t win a lot of matches at the Olympics or the last week,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There’s a lot of traveling, a lot of practices, a lot of balls hit and maybe that’s taken a bit of a toll on me, too. I don’t know.”

Shapovalov came into the tournament as the No. 5 seed with a bye through the first round.

“Obviously it’s not an ideal performance, so I’m definitely not too happy,” Shapovalov said after his second round loss.

“(Tiafoe) has a lot of matches under his belt under these conditions and he was the better player today. It was obvious,” said Shapovalov, the world No. 10. “I just didn’t feel comfortable ever in the match and you could see he was comfortable. . It’s always tough to go up against guys like this.”

Tiafoe will face France’s Gael Monfils in the third round on Thursday after the tournament’s No. 11 seed beat John Millman of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, seventh-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, No. 8 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 10th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and American John Isner also won their matches Wednesday to advance, as did Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, who upset 12th-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia.

In the women’s event in Montreal, Canadian wild card Rebecca Marino continued her run by beating Paula Badosa 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

The 30-year-old Marino upset No. 16 seed Madison Keys in the first round.

Marino had a career-high ranking of No. 39 in 2011, but stepped away from the sport for nearly five years to battle depression. She’s currently ranked 220th.

“Any time you can beat a girl who’s in the top 100, top 50, it’s something to feel good about, particularly as I’m building my ranking back up,” Marino said of beating Badosa, who is ranked 31st.

Marino will face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the round of 16 on Thursday.

Sabalenka, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, edged American wild card Sloane Stephens 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Canadian Bianca Andreescu will also be back in action Thursday, facing either No. 13 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia or Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.

No 4 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Rebulic, No. 11 Maria Sakkari of Greece and Coco Gauff, the 15th-seeded American, all won to advance on Wednesday, while Britain’s Johanna Konta ousted third-seeded Ukarainian Elina Svitolina.

American Danielle Collins upset No. 6 Simona Halep of Romania, and Jessica Pegula of the U.S. got by 10th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Cirstea beats Sabalenka at Miami; night matches rained out

Associated PressMar 29, 2023, 11:57 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Sorana Cirstea advanced to her first semifinal of a WTA 1000 event in a decade, beating Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4 at the Miami Open on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Cirstea beat the highest-ranked opponent of her career by knocking off the second-ranked Sabalenka. Cirstea previously defeated No. 4 Caroline Garcia this month at Indian Wells and topped Garcia again in the second round at Miami.

“I think I’m a bit speechless,” Cirstea said. “I came out knowing that it’s going to be a really tough match. Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I’m very, very happy with my performance today.”

The 74th-ranked Romanian, who has two career singles titles, will face either Petra Kvitova and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals. The Kvitova-Alexandrova match had been scheduled for Wednesday night but was postponed to Thursday because of rain; also postponed was the men’s match between top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and No. 10 Taylor Fritz.

Alexandrova advanced on Tuesday when Bianca Andreescu suffered a left ankle injury and left the court in a wheelchair. On Wednesday, the 22-year-old Andreescu tweeted that she tore two ligaments in her ankle and will be out indefinitely.

“It’s tough to say exactly how long it will take, but let’s just say it could’ve been much worse!! I’m going to take it day by day, and I am optimistic that with the right work, rehab, and preparation, I’ll be back on court soon,” the 2019 U.S. Open champion said in her social media post.

Sabalenka had six double faults, three of them on break points, and made 21 unforced errors to just nine for Cirstea.

“I guess people like to keep count of the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business, work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach Thomas Johansson – we just started in December and so far, I think it’s going great,” Cirstea said.

In the men’s draw, 11th-ranked Jannik Sinner beat Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-1.

Elena Rybakina hits 10 aces in Miami for 12th straight win

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 9:50 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to 12 matches by delivering 10 aces – her fourth consecutive outing with at least that many – in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over 25th-seeded Martina Trevisan in the Miami Open quarterfinals.

Rybakina has 46 aces through four matches at the hard-court tournament in Florida and a WTA-leading 201 this season.

The 23-year-old, who represents Kazakhstan, improved to 20-4 in 2023, including a run to the Australian Open final in January and a title at Indian Wells, California, last week.

She is trying to become only the fifth player to win the women’s trophies at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek did it a year ago; she withdrew from Miami this time because of a rib injury.

“Of course it would be amazing to achieve something like that,” the 10th-seeded Rybakina said about the prospect of completing what’s known as the Sunshine Double, “but it’s still far away.”

So far in Rybakina’s career, 13 of her 18 semifinal appearances have come on hard courts. She will face No. 3 Jessica Pegula for a berth in the final after the American fought off two match points and outlasted No. 27 Anastasia Potapova 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a match that ended just before 1:30 a.m. after play had been delayed by rain.

“I haven’t been that physically tired in just a really long time,” Pegula said. “Just the humidity was taking so much out of me, and I haven’t been able to play in humidity like that in a while. It was just really tough, so really, it was just pure will.”

Trevisan reached the French Open semifinals in 2022.

In fourth-round men’s action Tuesday, No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten 7-6 (4), 6-4 by No. 14 Karen Khachanov, while defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner all beat seeded opponents in straight sets.

Alcaraz, who returned to No. 1 in the ATP rankings last week, got past Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting against Fritz, the top-ranked American man and seeded ninth in Miami.

Fritz compiled twice as many winners, 22, as unforced errors, 11, and only dropped serve once during a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 7 Holger Rune. That put Fritz into his first quarterfinal in seven appearances in Miami – and his first matchup against Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain who won the U.S. Open in September for his first Grand Slam title.

“I’m really excited for it,” Fritz said. “I think that a lot of people are really excited for that, too.”

No. 10 Sinner eliminated No. 6 Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 and has yet to drop a set in the tournament.

Sinner’s next opponent will be unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori, a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 winner against No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp.

No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, forced to start late and off his scheduled court after the rain, beat Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-2. He will face American Christopher Eubanks, who edged Adrian Mannarino in a pair of tiebreakers.

Khachanov will play Francisco Cerundolo, a semifinalist in Miami last year, in the other men’s quarterfinal.