Maya Joint and Daria Kasatkina both secured victories in Montreal, while Alexei Popyrin successfully kickstarted his title defence in Toronto.
Montreal, Canada, 30 July 2025 | AAP
Teenager Maya Joint redeemed her first-round Washington Open loss to Leylah Fernandez at the Canadian Open in Montreal on Wednesday (AEST).
Fernandez, a former US Open finalist, collected the biggest title of her career on Sunday when she won the DC Open in Washington, overcoming Anna Kalinskaya 6-1 6-2 in the final.
But her triumph was short-lived, as Joint defeated the Quebec native 6-4 6-1. The 19-year-old bounced back from her 6-3 6-3 loss to the world No.24 last week to record her second-career WTA 1000 victory.
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Joint, ranked 45th in the world and already a two-time WTA title winner this year, now meets American 28th seed McCartney Kessler. A victory for Joint would guarantee the first meeting between the WTA top 50’s two teenagers, with Mirra Andreeva awaiting the winner.
Australia’s No.1 player Daria Kasatkina is already through to the third round after she defeated Anna Blinkova 6-1 6-4. Kasatkina set up the win with a 24-minute opening set, where she generated 14 points on return to Blinkova’s five.
She next faces 24th-seed Marta Kostyuk, of Ukraine, for a spot in the fourth round.
Popyrin successfully launches Toronto defence
In Toronto, Alexei Popyrin successfully began his Canadian Open title defence with a straight-sets victory over Canadian Nicolas Arseneault.
After an opening-round bye, the 18th-seeded Popyrin defeated the world No.636, 7-6(7) 6-3 in their round-of-64 clash.
Both players were nearly impenetrable on serve, each pounding down nine aces and having similar first-serve percentages – 57 per cent for Popyrin, 60 per cent for Arseneault.
Break points proved almost as elusive as the Sasquatch, with Popyrin managing the only break of the encounter in the second set. It was one of just three break opportunities the Australian generated for the match.
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However, Popyrin was even more miserly on his own serve, fending off the only break point Arseneault could manufacture.
The Australian is hoping to secure back-to-back titles in Toronto, having won last year’s final 6-2 6-4 against Andrey Rublev.
Victory in Canada would be a perfect tune-up to next month’s final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open in New York.
While Popyrin safely advanced to the third round in Toronto, compatriot James Duckworth was unable to stop third-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Duckworth put up a good fight in the first set, before Musetti cantered away with the second, clinching a 7-5 6-1 victory.
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