Ukrainian tennis players Elina Svitolina and Yulia Starodubtseva advanced to the third round of the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal after securing straight-set victories in their second-round matches, reports Baltimore Chronicle.
Yulia Starodubtseva confidently defeated the 21st seed, Poland’s Magdalena Frech. This match was their third head-to-head encounter, with the Polish player winning in the previous two, including a recent victory at the Washington tournament. This time, however, the Ukrainian dominated from the start, winning the first five games of the first set and finishing it 6-1. In the second set, after two opening games won by Starodubtseva, Frech briefly narrowed the gap, but Starodubtseva quickly regained control, finishing the set with another 6-1 win. During the match, Starodubtseva converted five out of twelve break points, did not commit any double faults on her serve, and her opponent did not have a single break point opportunity.
Elina Svitolina, who started directly from the second round thanks to her 10th seeding, faced neutral-status player Kamilla Rakhimova for the first time. In the first set, Svitolina led 5-1, but Rakhimova won four consecutive games to even the score. In the crucial moments, the Ukrainian’s experience allowed her to close out the set 7-5. In the second set, after a brief exchange of games (2-2), Svitolina won four games in a row and wrapped up the match 6-2. Despite a first-serve accuracy of only 40%, Svitolina won 72% of the points on her first serve, and also hit four aces.
All four Ukrainian players made it to the third round in Montreal — alongside Svitolina and Starodubtseva, Marta Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska also progressed. For Svitolina, this is the first time since 2019 that she has reached the third round of the Canadian Open, with her last such appearance being in 2017 when she won the Toronto title.
In the next round, Svitolina will face another neutral-status player, Anna Kalinskaya, while Starodubtseva will meet 16th seed Clara Tauson. Their third-round matches are scheduled for Friday, August 1st.
Earlier we wrote about how much Usyk earned from Dubois fight and how much he’ll pay in Ukraine.