MONTREAL — Iga Swiatek, unfazed by two lengthy rain delays, held off Karolina Muchova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA Montreal Open.
Swiatek’s victory, in a rematch of the French Open final she won two months ago, ensures the Polish star will remain number one in the world for a 72nd straight week when the rankings come out Monday.
It took two hours and 47 minutes on court, but more than nine hours from start to finish on what Swiatek called an “extraordinary” day.
Swiatek roared through the opening set despite solid play from her Czech opponent, who was unable to convert break chances in the third and fifth games.
Swiatek grabbed her second break of the set in a sixth game that went to deuce five times.
But as she did at Roland Garros, Muchova battled back to take the second set only for rain to bring the match to a halt for more than three hours.
Swiatek had broken to open the third set when rain stopped play again. It would be another couple of hours before they resumed and she backed up the break with a hold for a 2-0 lead.
That would be all Swiatek needed, and she polished off the victory with a love game.
“You have to find energy even though we’ve been here since 9am,” Swiatek said. “For sure, it was a pretty extraordinary day, and I don’t think I’ve had such a situation in my career so there is the opportunity to learn something new and see what I’m capable (of) ― even though we played this match, like, three times.”
Fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula booked her quarter-final berth with a crisp 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jasmine Paolini before the rain rolled in.
Pegula fired six aces and broke Paolini five times, needing just 69 minutes to post her fifth win in as many meetings with the Italian.
Pegula, who has reached the semi-finals at the last two Canadian tournaments, next faces her doubles partner Coco Gauff, who blew past newly minted Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-0 in just 62 minutes.
Gauff, who captured her fourth career title in Washington, is seeded sixth.
Vondrousova was seeded ninth a month after she earned her first Grand Slam title.
Other winners included 10th-seeded Daria Kasatkina, who beat Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the US Open, meaning he will have missed all four Grand Slam tournaments the year after reaching his first major final.
Kyrgios has played in just one official singles match all season – a loss in Stuttgart, Germany, in June.
Soon after that, he withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a wrist injury. It was at the All England Club in 2022 that Kyrgios turned in his best run at one of the sport’s four most important events, finishing as the runner-up to Novak Djokovic.
Then, at the US Open a year ago, Kyrgios made his deepest run at Flushing Meadows by making it to the quarter-finals.
He eliminated reigning champion and No. 1-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round, before losing in five sets to Karen Khachanov.
The 28-year-old from Australia began 2023 by sitting out the Australian Open because of an injured left knee that required arthroscopic surgery.
He also missed the French Open. All of the time away has resulted in Kyrgios dropping in the ATP rankings and he is currently No. 92.
Play begins in the singles main draws at the US Open in New York on Aug. 28. The brackets will be determined on Aug. 24.
The US Tennis Association announced Kyrgios’ withdrawal, along with that of Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. No specific reasons for their absences were immediately given by the USTA.
Two players from Argentina moved into the men’s singles field to replace them: Facundo Diaz Acosta and Diego Schwartzman.
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