National Bank Open: Coco Gauff defeats Aryna Sabalenka to win longest match of her career | Tennis News

A day after ousting Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff needed three hours and 11 minutes to edge Aryna Sabalenka as top seed Iga Swiatek exited Toronto with a shock defeat to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Gauff needed a third-set tie-break before defeating No 6 seed Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-4) to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals for a second year in a row.

« It definitely gives me a lot of confidence because I know I can tough it out in those tough moments, » said Gauff, who will next face Simona Halep, who beat Jil Teichmann 6-2 7-5. « These are the type of players that I need to have to beat if I want to win a Grand Slam.

« So these matches are giving me more confidence. And I know how it feels in those moments against these players. They’re not going to give you anything and you shouldn’t expect that. »

With the win over Sabalenka, the 18-year-old became the youngest player to reach back-to-back quarter-finals in Canada since Jennifer Capriati in 1990 and 1991.

World No 1 Iga Swiatek was stunned by Haddad Maia 6-4 3-6 7-5, while Jessica Pegula knocked out defending champion Camila Giorgi to join Gauff and Halep in the quarter-finals.

« I knew that all the matches here would be very tough, not only top 20 players, like the first round was a very, very tough round and I won in three sets as well, » Haddad Maia said.

« 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. »

French Open champion Swiatek, who had a run of 37 straight wins halted in the third round at Wimbledon last month, admitted struggling with the windy conditions.

« Next time maybe I’m going to be able to find, even though the conditions are going to be bad, more solutions and just play more solid. Because I did a lot of mistakes that I kind of don’t accept, » she said.

Haddad Maia, 26, will next meet Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, who converted all four of her breakpoint chances against two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza of Spain to complete a 6-1 6-3 win in a late match.

Zheng Qinwen kept her breakthrough year on track, quietening the home crowd on Centre Court with a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Canada’s Bianca Andreescu.

The Chinese 19-year-old, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros earlier this year, next faces Karolina Pliskova, the Czech firing down 10 aces on the way to a 6-1 6-7 (11-9) 6-3 win over third seed Maria Sakkari of Greece.

American seventh seed Pegula rallied to end the title defence of Italian Giorgi with a 3-6 6-0 7-5 victory and will next face Yulia Putintseva after the Kazakh beat Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-3 7-5.

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