National Bank Open: Masters in decline

But what’s going on with Iga Swiatek and Garbiñe Muguruza, both of whom were eliminated early at the National Bank Open in Toronto?

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For one thing, the 21-year-old Pole has only been a shadow of herself since winning the title at the French Open last June.

On Thursday, Swiatek lost (4-6, 6-3 and 5-7) to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the third round of the tournament, held in Queen City.

Facing a tough opponent ranked 24th in the WTA, the world number one revealed numerous unforced errors and a rough serve, as evidenced by her nine double faults and low efficiency rate of 45% points won with her second ball.

After 37 wins

Swiatek also allowed 19 break points for their 26-year-old Brazilian rival, who converted just four.

At Wimbledon, her streak of 37 wins ended when she was defeated by France’s Alizé Cornet in the third round. During that winning streak, she was crowned champion at last spring’s tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

We will also remember her surprise quarterfinal loss to another Frenchwoman, Caroline Garcia, in front of her home crowd in Poland last month.

In Toronto, Swiatek suffered her first loss in 14 games on hard, enough to raise concerns weeks before the United States Open, where she is the favourite.

“The last six very tough months”

Garbine Muguruza

Photo: AFP

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza, two-time Grand Slam winner (Roland-Garros 2016 and Wimbledon 2017), was eliminated by Swiss Belinda Bencic in two quick sets 6-1 and 6-3 in Toronto on Thursday evening.

After her unexpected first-round loss at Wimbledon, the 28-year-old Spaniard is unable to string two wins in a row, which has not happened to her since February in Qatar.

excuses

Obviously Muguruza is not at her best, she presented this competition a week before her stopover in Toronto, having missed out on competing in San Jose, California due to injury.

After her bad performance in London, she also apologized to her fans on her Twitter account. “The last six months have been very tough,” she wrote. I hope the rest of the year will be more reassuring. »