August 12, (THEWILL) – Iga Swiatek, the top-ranked player in the world, was shocked by Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 loss at the Canadian Open on Thursday.
In the first set of their round of 16 match, Swiatek committed a double fault to give Haddad Maia a 3-2 lead. The Brazilian then relied on her strong serve and groundstrokes to win the set without having to face a break point for a shocking set of tennis by the unseeded player.
In the second set’s opening 15 minutes, Swiatek held serve while facing five break points. Later, she built on a break for a 5-2 advantage before forcing a decider. In the third set, Haddad Maia, the world’s number 24, broke Swiatek three times, culminating in the decisive game on her fourth match point after the Pole missed with a forehand.
In her post-match interview, the 26-year-old Haddad Maia said: “”I knew that all the matches here would be very tough, not only top 20 players, like the first round, which was a very, very tough round and I won in three sets as well. Tennis is like that. It doesn’t matter where you are playing, which court and with who. You need to push yourself to improve your game and I think that was the key for both (of my three-set) victories and I am very proud of myself.”
In the final eight of the U.S. Open warm-up tournament, Haddad Maia will either face Swiss player Belinda Bencic, the 12th seed, or eighth seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
