Coco Gauff routed Russian \u200bteenager \u200bAlina Korneeva 6-3, \u200b6-1 on Sunday to advance to the \u2060quarter-finals of the National Bank Open in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Gauff \u2060became the second player to reach 25 WTA 1000 quarter-finals before her 23rd birthday. Martina Hingis, who, like Gauff, was producing victories in her teens, made 39 quarters in the \u20601990’s.<\/p>\n
Gauff<\/a> lost her serve to open the match, but broke right back and \u200bwon \u2060three of Korneeva’s four service games \u200cin the opening set.<\/p>\n It was more of the same in the second \u200bset, but this time, Gauff won all four of her opponent’s service games. For the match, Gauff won 42 of 68 return points.<\/p>\n In \u2060the first clash of the day, second-seeded \u200bElena Rybakina of Kazakhstan outlasted Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova in a marathon, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.<\/p>\n The Rybakina-Samsonova match took nearly three hours with 217 points played. Rybakina<\/a> dominated the serving statistics, but still had to face break points 13 times in the match. She managed to hold off Samsonova seven times, while breaking on seven of her 17 chances.<\/p>\n In a wild deciding set, Rybakina trailed 3-0 before storming back to win four consecutive games. After both players held, Rybakina made quick work of her opponent’s service game, winning all four points to advance to her fifth WTA 1000 quarter-final appearance in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew it would be a \u200bvery tough match. It’s always a battle against Liudmila,\u201d Rybakina \u200csaid on court after the match. \u201cIt’s \u2060really tough to find words now \u2026 I’m \u200bso tired, but I’m super happy. I was just trying to \u200bfocus a point \u200cat a time.<\/p>\n \u201cI know she’s also an aggressive player. If I don’t step in, she \u2060might be the first one. I’m super happy to be in the next \u2060round.\u201d<\/p>\n Osaka through but Eala finally loses<\/p>\n In the late matches, Naomi Osaka of Japan eliminated Leylah Fernandez of Canada, 6-4, 6-4, and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, the 12th seed, ousted rising Filipina sensation Alexandra Eala<\/a>, 6-4, 6-0.<\/p>\n Osaka had the edge \u200bon Fernandez in aces (7-1) and won 76.3 per cent of her first serves (29 of 38) to 60 per cent (21 of 35) for her opponent in a match lasting one hour 22 minutes. <\/p>\n Bencic converted six of 10 breakpoint opportunities while Eala converted two of four in their match.<\/p>\n