Bianca Andreescu advances to 3rd round at National Bank Open in Toronto

Bianca Andreescu is the lone Canadian left in the National Bank Open women's singles tournament in Toronto.

The 22-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over France's Alize Cornet on Wednesday in the day's final match at Sobeys Stadium.

Andreescu won the event in 2019 when it was last held in Toronto with a win over Serena Williams, who was eliminated earlier on Wednesday in her final match in Canada.

Andreescu said she loves the energy of her hometown crowd.

"I've never played in front of a crowd like this and same went for 2019," said Andreescu. "Hopefully they can continue like this [throughout] the tournament."

WATCH l Andreescu advances with win over Cornet: 

Bianca Andreescu advances to 3rd round at the National Bank Open

2 years ago

Duration 2:14

It took three sets but Canada's Bianca Andreescu finally was able to defeat France's Alize Cornet 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., was eliminated from the singles tournament following a 7-6 (4), 6-1 loss to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia earlier on Wednesday.

Fernandez, the 13th seed in Toronto, was playing in her first tournament following a two-month layoff to recover from a stress fracture in her right foot that she sustained at the French Open.

"It's a little hard today because we just finished with two losses," said Leylah Fernandez. "I'm just happy that I finally was back in competition and that we not only tested out the foot but also the body. The body feels great.

"Of course, not at the level that we want it to be, but at least we know what we need to work."

WATCH l Fernandez falls to Haddad Maia in 2nd round:

Fernandez falls to Haddad Maia at National Bank Open

2 years ago

Duration 2:35

Montreal's Leylah Fernandez lost 7-6(4), 6-1 to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round of the National Bank Open in Toronto on Wednesday.

While Fernandez showed plenty of fight in the first set of her singles match, she eventually seemed to wear against the powerful attack of her increasingly confident opponent.

After an encouraging start, Fernandez gave up the first break of the match to go down 3-2 in the opening set.

Leading 5-4, Haddad Maia converted her fourth ace of the match to give her set point. But Fernandez saved to bring the score to deuce, then converted her first break point to tie the set.

But again, the Brazilian couldn't put the set away. A double-fault from Haddad Maia set up double break point for Fernandez, and the Canadian came out on top after a long rally to win the next point and force a tiebreak.

Haddad Maia proved too much for Fernandez in the extra session, using powerful strokes to keep the Canadian off-balance and taking a 6-3 tiebreak lead.

Fernandez saved another set point before Haddad Maia clinched it with a strong backhand to end a short rally.

Haddad Maia built on that momentum in the second set, converting an early break en route to a 3-0 lead.

Her second break of the set put Haddad Maia up 5-1, then she served to love in the final game to take the match.

Auger-Aliassime wins opener in front of home crowd

The National Bank Open's defending men's champion is out. The second seed was eliminated too and the so-called Big Three didn't make the trip.

The draw was left wide open on Wednesday at IGA Stadium in Montreal before some players had even played their opening matches.

Carlos Alcaraz was the first to go, falling in the opening session to American Tommy Paul. World No. 1 and top seed Daniil Medvedev was next as he was dispatched by Australia's Nick Kyrgios.

In the evening, sixth-seeded Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime thrilled the near-capacity crowd with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

WATCH l Auger-Aliassime tops Nishioka in opening match:

Auger-Aliassime knocks off Nishioka in straight sets in Montreal

2 years ago

Duration 3:01

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6(6), 6-4 in the second round of the National Bank Open on Wednesday.

Alcaraz dropped a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 6-3 decision to American Tommy Paul in a marathon that lasted three hours 20 minutes.

Kyrgios, coming off a win last week in Washington, took out Medvedev 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2. The Russian controlled the first-set tiebreaker but Kyrgios opened with a break in the second set and didn't look back.

Medvedev, who claimed a title last week in Mexico, was handcuffed at times by the Australian's serve-and-volley game. Kyrgios was creative, steady, and even worked in a couple underhand serves to keep his opponent guessing.

The top eight seeds in the 56-player draw received first-round byes. Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon final last month, defeated Argentina's Sebastian Baez in the first round.

Paul, meanwhile, the world No. 34, saved a match ball in a tiebreaker and converted his fifth match point in the deciding set.

Auger-Aliassime, the only Canadian left in singles play, took the first set with a brilliant cross-court winner to cap a 20-shot rally. He stood for a few seconds with arms stretched out by his sides as the partisan crowd roared its approval.

Auger-Aliassime will play ninth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Britain in the next round. Norrie dumped Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2.

Among the other top-10 seeds, No. 4 Casper Ruud of Norway defeated Alex Molcan of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 6-3 and No. 7 Jannik Sinner of Italy topped Adrian Mannarino of France 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland beat Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 and 10th-seeded Taylor Fritz beat fellow American Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

Third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was scheduled to play British qualifier Jack Draper in the late match.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil, a native of Vernon, B.C., all lost their first-round singles matches.

In men's doubles play, Pospisil and Sinner dropped a 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 decision to the French duo of Benjamin Bonzi and Gael Monfils. Italy's Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini posted a 6-4, 6-1 win over Calgary native Cleeve Harper and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont.

After two days of wet weather and match postponements, sunny skies and warm temperatures returned Wednesday.

Play continues through Sunday at the US$6.57-million tournament.

No. 1 Swiatek cruises into 3rd round

Haddad Maia will next face world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who cruised into the third round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic.

Swiatek increased her hardcourt winning streak to 20 matches with a clinical performance, defeating Tomljanovic in just one hour four minutes.

'The Polish star converted six of her nine break point chances as she connected on 26 of 37 return points (70.3 per cent).

In other early results, 10th seed Coco Gauff of the United States beat Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3). Defending champion Camila Giorgi of Italy downed Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5. And seventh seed Jessica Pegula downed fellow American Asia Muhammad 6-2, 7-5.

Also Wednesday, No. 4 seed Paula Badosa of Spain and No. 5 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia were eliminated after retiring from their respective matches. Second-seeded Estonian Anna Kontaveit also fell.

Badosa was down 7-5, 1-0 when she was forced to retire against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Jabeur also dropped her first set before retiring down 2-1 in the second set to Qinwen Zheng of China.

Badosa was down 7-5, 1-0 when she was forced to retire against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Jabeur also dropped her first set before retiring down 2-1 in the second set to Qinwen Zheng of China.

Other seeded players to advance included No. 15 Simona Halep of Romania and No. 14 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. No. 16 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia lost to Alison Riske-Amritraj 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-5.