Rybakina, Gauff advance to Toronto quarter-finals
TORONTO, Canada: World number two Elena Rybakina battled her way into the WTA Canadian Open quarter-finals on Sunday, while fourth-ranked Coco Gauff cruised into the last eight. Kazakhstan’s Rybakina outlasted Russian Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 after two hours and 49 minutes, before American Gauff eliminated Russian teen qualifier Alina Korneeva 6-3, 6-1 in Toronto. Rybakina, down two breaks at 0-3 in the third set, rallied to book a quarter-final against the winner of the last-16 match between four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and home hope Leylah Fernandez. Gauff reached the last eight in Canada for the first time since 2023. Her seventh WTA quarter-final of the year will be against either Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic or Alexandra Eala, the in-form Filipino who won her first WTA title earlier this week in Washington. Gauff, who has not dropped a set in Canada, fired 16 winners against 15 unforced errors. “My main focus today was let me try and close it out,” Gauff said.
