Maria Sakkari advances to second round

MONTREAL: Maria Sakkari, the 11th seed, advanced to the second round of the WTA Montreal Masters for the first time with a 6-4, 3-1 defeat of Marie Bouzkova on Monday.

The incomplete match made Sakkari the first of the seeds to advance, with the top eight receiving first-round byes.

Sakkari is the first Greek woman to get this far. Her ailing opponent needed a medical timeout before quitting the match after 91 minutes on court.

Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, lost her opening match, falling to Katerina Siniakova, the Olympic doubles gold medalist alongside Barbora Krejcikova.

The Czech posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory to reach the second round in an hour and a quarter, with Ostapenko double-faulting six times and losing her serve on seven occasions.

American teen Amanda Anisimova won a match up of qualifiers, the world number 86 defeating Tereza Martincova 6-1, 4-3 when the Czech retired.

Anisimova has now won both of the pair's matches, the first played in 2019 at Mallorca. The tournament debutant was playing only her second match since a first-round defeat at Wimbledon.

Ons Jabeur of Tunisia needed less than an hour to put out number 101 Frenchwoman Clara Burel 6-1, 6-3.

Spain's 31st-ranked Paula Badosa defeated Swiss Viktorija Golubic, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist, 6-2, 6-3 while France's Fiona Ferro beat Ajla Tomljanovic 2-6, 6-2 when the Australian retired.

French qualifier Oceane Dodin upset 14th seed Karolina Muchova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, winning despite 10 double-faults.

Nadia Podoroska flew the flag for Argentina as the first from her country to play here in a decade, defeating Pole Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour. Agencies

Also Read: New IOC Directive Might End Olympic Dream For Mirabai Chanu, Weightlifting Can Lose Olympic Status

Also Watch: