Iga Swiatek is up and running in Toronto after breezing past Tomljanovic

Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, advanced to the last 16 of the National Bank Open by winning against Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-2 at the Aviva Centre in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.

Swiatek, ranked No 1, will face the winner of the match between Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia and Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the No 13 seed, next.

She looked firm and in control in her first match of the North American hard court swing, winning in 64 minutes as she broke Tomljanovic’s serve six times.

The Pole has dominated the 1000-level events in 2022, winning titles in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome – Swiatek has won her last 15 1000-level matches in straight sets.

“I am really happy because finally I feel like I found my rhythm,” said Swiatek, who improved to 47-5 on the season. “After two months of constantly thinking about surfaces right now I’m on hard court and I feel like I’m ready to just improve my game and focus on that – I’m really happy that I’m learning new things and I feel like it’s going to be a great US Open series, pretty tough, but hopefully I’m going to handle the pressure and everything, and just keep going.”

Swiatek is now 27-3 on hard courts for the season, and 60-24 lifetime.

In the previous round of the Canadian Open, Tomljanovic, ranked No 72, edged out Russian Veronika Kudermetova (6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3)).

Toronto WTA 1000, other second-round matches (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 2.527.250, most recent results first):

• Bianca Andreescu vs. Alize Cornet
• Belinda Bencic vs. Serena Williams
• Kaia Kanepi vs. Garbine Muguruza
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Ons Jabeur
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Jil Teichmann vs. Anett Kontaveit
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Paula Badosa
• Simona Halep vs. Shuai Zhang
• Jessica Pegula vs. Asia Muhammad: wednesday
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Alison Riske-Amritraj: wednesday
• Coco Gauff (10) beat Elena Rybakina: 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3)
• Camila Giorgi beat Elise Mertens: 6-3, 7-5
• Karolina Pliskova (14) beat Amanda Anisimova: 6-1, 6-1
• Maria Sakkari (3) beat Sloane Stephens: 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

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