Canada's Leylah Fernandez knocked out of Citi Open in straight sets

Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez has been eliminated from the Citi Open in straight sets.

She lost to Greece's Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-2 in the Round of 16 of the event in Washington, D.C.

Sakkari dominated the native of Laval, Que., in every facet of the match.

The fourth-seeded Sakkari had five aces to Fernandez's one.

She also won 75 per cent of her first serve points to the Canadian's 60.

It was the first match Montreal's Fernandez, 20, and Sakkari had played in their WTA Tour careers.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Jessica Pegula reached the semifinals 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 in the final game.

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. She is a six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and will face Sakkari or No. 7 seed Madison Keys in the semifinals.

The other women's quarterfinals: Coco Gauff vs. Belinda Bencic, and defending champion Liudmila Samsonova vs. Marta Kostyuk.

Because of rain that washed out several matches Thursday, some men needed to play twice on Friday. That group will include the winner of the fourth-round matchup between three-time major champion Andy Murray and top-seeded Taylor Fritz.

Also scheduled to play in the fourth round on Friday, in the hopes of advancing to a quarterfinal later in the day, were Americans Frances Tiafoe —