Canada's Leylah Fernandez knocked out of Citi Open in straight sets
Laval, Que., native falls to Greece's Maria Sakkari in Round of 16
Canadians Leylah Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski have both been eliminated from the Citi Open.
Fernandez lost to Greece's Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-2 in the Round of 16 of the women's singles tournament on Friday in Washington, D.C.
Dabrowski and Japanese partner Shuko Aoyama then lost to Chile's Alexa Guarachi and Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-1 in the women's doubles semifinals.
Sakkari dominated Fernandez, from Laval, Que., in every facet of the match.
The fourth-seeded Sakkari had five aces to Fernandez's one.
It was the first match Fernandez, 20, and Sakkari had played in their WTA Tour careers.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, and Aoyama struggled with four double faults to their opponents' two.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime ousted by Watanuki on Wednesday:
Fritz beats Murray, Thompson
Top-seeded Taylor Fritz went two for two on Friday to reach the semifinals in Washington, first beating Andy Murray in a three-setter briefly interrupted by climate protesters and then heading out onto a different court three hours later to eliminate Jordan Thompson at night.
The second-seeded man, Frances Tiafoe, a crowd favourite who grew up nearby in Maryland, couldn't match Fritz's feat, winning one match Friday but losing his second, bowing out in the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 loss to No. 9 seed Dan Evans.
Fritz vs. Murray was one of several matches cancelled on Thursday because of rain, jumbling the schedule at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open and forcing some players to compete twice on Friday.
Fritz, a 25-year-old from California who is the top-ranked American man at No. 9, saved all seven break points he faced in the third set and hit 17 aces with tennis balls he deemed "awful" en route to a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 victory against Murray, a 36-year-old from Britain who earned three Grand Slam titles before he had two hip operations.
That one lasted more than three hours with the temperature in the mid-80s Fahrenheit (around 30 Celsius) and 60 per cent humidity.
A minute over 3 HOURS 🥵<a href="https://twitter.com/Taylor_Fritz97?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Taylor_Fritz97</a> comes from a set down to oust Murray and reach his 11th ATP Tour quarter-final of the season where he will face Thompson later tonight! <a href="https://twitter.com/mubadalacitidc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mubadalacitidc</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MubadalaCitiDCOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MubadalaCitiDCOpen</a> <a href="https://t.co/dKE4aQlkGo">pic.twitter.com/dKE4aQlkGo</a>
—@atptourThen Fritz raised his season victory total to 41 — only No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev have more — by beating Thompson 6-3, 6-3 in a much quicker contest: one hour, 17 minutes.
Before facing Fritz, Thompson finished off a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 11 Chris Eubanks in a match suspended late in the first set Thursday.
Griekspoor finished beating Gael Monfils in a match suspended Thursday in the third set, then went out and defeated J.J. Wolf 7-5, 6-4.
Tiafoe beat qualifier Shang Juncheng 6-2, 6-3, then had 2 1/2 hours off before facing Evans in the main stadium. Evans, who also beat Alexander Shevchenko on Friday, now takes on No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
The winner of Tiafoe vs. Evans takes on No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday. Dimitrov had a much simpler workday on Friday: He moved into the semifinals when No. 13 Ugo Humbert withdrew before their match with an injured left leg.
Pegula downs Svitolina
In other women's results, top-seeded Jessica Pegula reached the final four by coming back to edge Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 across more than two hours. Pegula saved six break points in the third set — five at 3-2, and the last while serving out the victory.
Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after having a baby in October, was coming off a semifinal run last month at Wimbledon, where she eliminated No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Pegula is a 29-year-old American who won the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital in 2019 for one of her two WTA singles titles and claimed the doubles trophy in Washington last year. The six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist will face No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari in the semifinals.
After defeating Fernandez, Sakkari eliminated 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys 6-3, 6-3.
Defending champion Liudmila Samsonova beat Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-2 and will face 2022 French Open finalist Coco Gauff in the semifinals Saturday. Gauff defeated Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-2 on Friday night.
With files from The Associated Press
