Jodar Downs Musetti, Mektic and Vekic Fall at the Start
The 19-year-old Spaniard continued his charge toward the top, while Croatian representatives had mixed results at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Canada.
The 19-year-old Spaniard continued his charge toward the top, while Croatian representatives had mixed results at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Canada.
Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old Spanish tennis player, continued his impressive rise toward the top of the world rankings. At the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal, Jodar defeated Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-3 in the third round to advance to the round of 16, where he will face Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Jodar, currently ranked 15th on the ATP list, displayed exceptional form, especially in the closing stages of the first set. When Musetti had a break point in the eighth game, the young Spaniard won 11 consecutive points and completely turned the match around. This victory comes just a week after defeating the same opponent in Washington, further confirming his consistency at the highest level.
Croatian tennis representative Nikola Mektic and his American partner Austin Krajicek failed to replicate last week's success in Washington, where they reached the final. In the first round of doubles in Montreal, they were defeated by the seventh seeds, Argentina's Guido Andreozzi and France's Manuel Guinard, 6-4, 6-2.
Better news comes for the other Croatian representative in doubles. Mate Pavic and Salvadoran Marcelo Arevalo were scheduled to play against Americans Alex Michelsen and Learner Tien, but that pair withdrew from the tournament. Pavic and Arevalo thus received replacement opponents, the American duo of Robert Cash and Brandon Nakashima, against whom they will play their first match.
At the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, Croatian female tennis players ended their campaigns. Donna Vekic and Greece's Maria Sakkari were defeated in the first round of doubles by the fifth seeds, Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, in a straight-forward 6-2, 6-2. In singles, Vekic was stopped in the second round by Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic, after receiving a bye in the first round.
Antonia Ruzic was the only Croatian representative to record a win in Toronto, defeating France's Lois Boisson in the first round. However, her path was halted in the second round, where she lost to American Madison Keys.
In the top half of the singles draw in Toronto, there were no surprises. World No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, took 76 minutes to defeat China's Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-4. Third seed, American Jessica Pegula, was even more convincing, beating Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 6-0 in 68 minutes.
The quickest path to the round of 16 was taken by ninth seed, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, who dismantled Austrian representative Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-1 in exactly one hour.
