MONTREAL (AP) — Two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula was eliminated in the third round of the National Bank Open, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Anastasija Sevastova on Friday.
Sevastova, a 35-year-old from Latvia who was ranked 11th in 2018 but has fallen to 386th, broke the third-seeded Pegula six times on 10 chances.
“Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better,” Sevastova said. “Third set, I played really good. “Just trying to stay on the court as long as possible.”
Sevastova is the lowest-ranked player to beat a top-10 player since Angelique Kerber edged Jelena Ostapenko last year at Indian Wells.
Sevastova has played 24 WTA Tour-level matches in four years. She got a spot in the main draw with a protected ranking because of a knee injury.
The loss continued a poor run for the fourth-ranked Pegula, who won her opener in Montreal over Maria Sakkari of Greece, but exited Wimbledon and the D.C. Open after one match in July.
Sevastova will take on Naomi Osaka, who moved to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Osaka, a former No. 1-ranked player from Japan, is playing her first tournament with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, She had five aces and converted 6 of 9 break-point opportunities to win the match in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
“She broke me a couple times, but she’s a really good returner, so I can’t take that personally," Osaka said. "I went in there knowing she’s a great player, and if I give her a chance she’s going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could.”
Sixth-seeded Madison Keys beat fellow American Caty McNally 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“Today I did a good job of bouncing back after the first set,” Keys said. “Let go of the first set and move on. Happy I was able to do that.”
In other daytime results, 16th-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark rolled to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, headlined the night session. She was scheduled to face Eva Lys of Germany.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
