By Canadian Press

Top-seed Swiatek survives first set scare, defeats Pliskova in Montreal

Aug 9, 2023 | 2:10 PM

MONTREAL — World No. 1 Iga Swiatek overcame a first set-scare from Czechia’s Karolina Pliskova to win 7-6 (6), 6-2 in second-round action the National Bank Open on Wednesday.

Swiatek — coming off a dominant victory in the Poland Open last week — got an early advantage by breaking Pliskova’s serve in the first game.

However, Pliskova gave a preview of how the set would play out by responding immediately with one of her own.

After they traded a pair of service games, Swiatek once again to the upper hand, breaking Pliskova’s serve. Unwilling to go down without a fight, the former world no. 1 responded right away with another break.

The set would end up going to a tiebreak, which Swiatek claimed 8-6.

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Following the close call, Swiatek proceeded to dominate the second set, breaking Pliskova two more times.

Pliskova fought back from match point in order to break Swiatek and extend the match. That would not last long as Swiatek would return the favour and break, sealing the victory.

Swiatek improved her career record against Pliskova to 3-0. The Pole will face the winner of the match between Sorana Cirstea and Karolina Muchova in the next round.

Also Wednesday, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., faced 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Elias Grigoriadis, The Canadian Press