Ruzic Fights Back in Toronto to Reach Second Round
Croatian tennis player Antonia Ruzic defeated France's Lois Boisson in three sets, after the match was suspended due to darkness and resumed the following day.
Croatian tennis player Antonia Ruzic defeated France's Lois Boisson in three sets, after the match was suspended due to darkness and resumed the following day.
Antonia Ruzic, currently ranked 55th in the world, successfully cleared the first hurdle at the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto. In a match that lasted over two hours, she overcame French qualifier Lois Boisson, who sits at 292nd on the WTA rankings, staging a comeback to win 4:6, 6:1, 6:3.
The first-round clash began on Sunday but was halted when Boisson led 5:3 in the opening set. Upon returning to the court the next day, the Frenchwoman managed to close out that set in her favor, but what followed was a complete turnaround in the Croatian's play.
From that point on, Ruzic raised her level and conceded just four more games to her opponent for the rest of the match. In the second set, she broke her rival's serve twice and leveled the match at one set apiece without much trouble.
Boisson resisted until leading 2:1 in the third set, but then Ruzic reeled off three consecutive games to completely shift the momentum. In the closing stages, she broke the Frenchwoman's serve once more to seal her place in the next round.
In the second round, the Croatian faces a significantly tougher challenge against the tournament's 19th seed, American Madison Keys.
On the other side of the draw, British player Katie Boulter failed to snap her negative run. Unlike her husband, Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur, who has won two matches in Washington since their wedding, Boulter was defeated in her Toronto opener by home favorite Kayla Cross 7-6 (3), 7-5. Notably, while leading 6-5 in the first set, she squandered four set points on her own serve.
This marks Boulter's fourth consecutive loss. Her last victory came in mid-June in the quarterfinals of the grass-court tournament at London's Queen's Club, where she was stopped in the semifinals by eventual champion Donna Vekic. Since then, she has lost in her opening matches at Bad Homburg and Wimbledon.
