Pair of Ukrainians notch sweeps in Toronto

No. 11 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine pulled off a 6-0, 6-2 sweep of German Tatjana Maria on Tuesday in the first round of the National Bank Open in Toronto.

Kostyuk collected four aces and won 14 of 17 first-serve points to cruise into the second round, where she will face countrywoman Elina Svitolina. It took Kostyuk just 52 minutes to advance.

Svitolina, who won the event in 2017, also earned a 6-0, 6-2 victory on Tuesday, downing the United States’ Shelby Rogers. With the victory, Svitolina improved to 13-7 in her career at the Canadian Open.

“I love to play here,” Svitolina said. “I won here years ago. It’s always a pleasure for me to play here in front of so many great fans. Just happy to be here.”

Another Ukrainian, No. 16 seed Dayana Yastremska, was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. American Taylor Townsend was up 6-3, 6-1 when Yastremska made the decision to not continue.

Yastremska was the only seeded player to fall on Tuesday, although No. 10 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia was scheduled to play Louisa Chirico of the U.S. later on. No. 12 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2.

Other winners included Czech Karolina Pliskova, who ousted Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-4, 7-6 (10), and China’s Yafan Wang, who sank Sofia Kenin of the U.S. 7-5, 7-6 (3). Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima and Poland’s Magdalena Frech also won their respective matches.

Frech had to rally for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Anastasia Potapova of Russia.

One more match was scheduled for later Tuesday in addition to the battle between Kalinskaya and Chirico, as Canadian Bianca Andreescu was set to face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

–Field Level Media