
Canada's Stakusic bows out of NBO with first-round loss to Cristian
The 142nd-ranked Stakusic, in her fourth appearance at the NBO, was making her main draw debut in Montreal after bowing out in the second round of last year's tournament, held in Toronto.

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Canada News.Net
9 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Victoria Mboko stuns Coco Gauff to reach quarterfinals in Montreal
(Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images) Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko delivered the biggest victory of her career on Saturday when she dominated top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Montreal. Mboko needed just 62 minutes to dispose of the two-time Grand Slam champion. 'It's incredible,' Mboko said in French in her on-court interview, according to the WTA. 'I'm so happy to beat such a great champion.' Mboko, 18, received a wild card entry into the tournament and has dropped just one set in four matches. She is the youngest Canadian quarterfinalist at this event since 17-year-old Helen Kelesi in 1987. Mboko began the year ranked No. 333. She was at No. 85 entering this event and rose to No. 53 with the win over Gauff. Mboko, a Toronto resident, saved all five of her break-point opportunities and converted 4 of 5 against Gauff. She won 15 of 27 points (55.6 percent) against Gauff's second serve. 'Coming into the match, I was so locked in,' Mboko said in a postmatch interview with Sportsnet. 'I tried to keep my composure as much as I could, especially playing in front of so many people. This is a very special experience for me.' In May, Gauff lost the first set in a second-round match in Rome against Mboko before rallying to win the next two. The second meeting belonged to Mboko. 'I'm sure we're going to have many more battles in the future,' Gauff said after the loss. 'Yeah, I think she's going to have a lot of success on tour.' Gauff again had troubles with her serve as she committed six double faults for a three-match tournament total of 43. In the second round, she had 23 while narrowly beating Danielle Collins in a third-set tiebreaker in the second round and then followed up with 14 in a three-set, third-round win over Russia's Veronika Kudermetova. Mkobo will face either Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro or China's Link Zhu. Those two women were slated to play Saturday night. No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 30 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine. Rybakina overcame nine double faults while recording seven aces and converting 5 of 9 break points. Yastremska was one game away from winning before Rybakina won the final three games. The clincher came when she converted her fourth-match point attempt of the decisive game. Yastremska had four aces against seven double faults. Rybakina will face No. 24 seed Marta Kostyuk on Monday. The Ukrainian rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 28 McCartney Kessler. Both players had substantial serving issues. Kostyuk scored the lone ace of the match but had 10 double faults. Kessler was worse with 12. Kessler pulled within 4-3 in the third set before Kostyuk won the final two games to sew up the win.


Winnipeg Free Press
10 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Defending champion Alexei Popyrin advances to the National Bank Open quarterfinals
TORONTO (AP) — Defending champion Alexei Popyrin of Australia beat fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarterfinals. Popyrin, seeded 18th, will face the winner of the late match between top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany and No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina. Zverev, ranked third in the world, ended up the top seed with top-ranked Jannik Sinner — the 2023 winner — and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz skipping the hard-court event that ends Thursday. No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic also sat out. Alex Michelsen reached the quarterfinals in the afternoon, topping fellow American Learner Tien 6-3, 6-3. Michelsen will face 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway. ___ AP tennis:


Toronto Star
10 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Defending champ Alexei Popyrin advances to men's quarterfinals at National Bank Open
Alex Michelsen of the United States lunges for a backhand on his way to defeating Learner Tien of the United States at the National Bank Open in Toronto, on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn FNG flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :