Eugenie Bouchard

Australia has been ravaged by bushfires in recent months, triggering poor air conditions and concerns among players for their welfare ahead of the year's first grand slam.

Australian Open organisers have come under fire after allowing qualifiers to take place on Tuesday, despite a thick haze of smoke, forcing Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic to retire, while Eugenie Bouchard, Bernard Tomic and Maria Sharapova also struggled.

The main draw gets underway on Monday and all eyes are on the Victorian capital with conditions continuing to fluctuate.

Asked if the slam should go ahead, Conron - Associate Professor and Director of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne - told Omnisport: "From a respiratory physician's point of view, if you had air quality of the type we have seen previously, I'd think the recommendation would be to delay or postpone the tournament until the weather cleared.

"I wouldn't think there'd be risk of long-term damage to your lungs. However, there's certainly a risk of precipitating an asthma attack. For those who have known asthma in particular, they'd be at a significant disadvantage to whose who haven't."

Conron, who helped prepare athletes for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing amid concerns over poor air quality in China, added: "Everyone would be at increased risk of developing respiratory symptoms.

"A lot would get sore throats, a bad and irritating cough and a smaller number would probably get asthma-type symptoms, particularly if they're not adequately controlled.

"If I was to provide advice to players and those wanting to do exercise in those conditions, if possible don't."

Tuesday's conditions were in the "very poor" range. For such weather, the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) recommends avoiding being outside and reducing prolonged or heavy physical activity. In some areas of Melbourne and Victoria, conditions were "hazardous". In those conditions, people are urged to close their windows and doors, while keeping physical activity levels as low as possible.

Conron added: "There's athletes who don't know they have asthma or might only have mild asthma and they're not on treatment. For that group of people, there's also the risk of increased symptoms associated with exposure to poor air quality. They might perform worse than they normally perform.

"The other thing is, tennis players are under the WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] code. So you can't just treat them with steroids or high doses of inhalers without an adequate diagnosis, because they run the risk of being tested and face a ban.

"At the Australian Open, they would've had to notify WADA they are on medication. For example, if there's someone who doesn't know they have asthma and have an attack - you're allowed to take 16 puffs of Ventolin a day, which doesn't get you over the threshold. Not all inhalers are approved."

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki - who has degrees in physics and maths, biomedical engineering, medicine and surgery - also provided an insight into the conditions that have left tennis players concerned.

"I'd tell them not to do it [play]. The right thing to do would be to cancel the tournament," Kruszelnicki told Omnisport. 

"Sitting at rest, we breathe in maybe five litres of air every minute. But if we're exercising hard, we can get up to 50-70L. So you have these athletes on the court and they're shifting huge amounts of air in their lungs and they're getting acute affects from it. The air is not safe to breathe.

"Our immune system is made stronger by the moderate amount of exercise we do. But when you get to the top-grade athletes, their immune systems go to lunch and they're really fragile.

"These athletes at the tennis and Olympic Games, they're scared of people coming in with influenza. They are pushing their bodies way beyond what's actually healthy, but they want to win a tournament. In terms of the effect of the air pollution on them, they're more at risk than a less highly trained person, because their immune system has been knocked out of whack. 

"They have pushed themselves so hard but they have compromised their immune systems. So they're taking more pollutants in, but their bodies are more fragile. You think they have big muscles and can run around. In that regard they can, but almost certainly, they'd be more fragile. The technical term is an insult - an infection or pollution."

Former Wimbledon finalist Bouchard endured a wretched 2019 to tumble down the rankings and, despite recent improvement, entered the tournament in Turkey as the world number 272.

After taking control of Sunday's contest at the end of a fine week, though, it appeared the Canadian would earn a second career title. Only three players have triumphed on the Tour while being ranked lower and none of those first came through qualifying.

But Tig, whose only prior WTA success came in the 125K series, belatedly applied some pressure and Bouchard collapsed, recovering to reach a third-set tie-break but coming up short.

Bouchard made an aggressive start to take the first seven points and the break quickly followed.

The 26-year-old was frustrated in her pursuit of a swift second but clinched the opener on Tig's serve when a rapid return sent the Romanian into the net.

Tig was much improved at the start of the second, however, and a gorgeous drop shot forged her first opportunity of the entire match, which she duly took.

Bouchard then lost her way as she looked set to break back, instead subsequently dropping her own serve again as she receiving a code violation for ball abuse before appearing to frustratedly gesture towards her coach.

A deserved third break settled the set and Tig soon led in the decider, too, but Bouchard battled to avoid a further setback and looked to have rediscovered her earlier poise and power as she levelled the match.

A wild backhand put Tig back in the driving seat, only for Bouchard to save three championship points on her opponent's serve, breaking back, and another three on her own.

The inconsistency that dogged Bouchard from the second set onwards would prove her undoing in the breaker, however, as Tig saw out a breakthrough triumph.

Former Wimbledon finalist Bouchard was playing for the first time since the WTA Tour was shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the weather prevented a number of her contemporaries from taking to the court.

The wildcard Canadian - now ranked 330th - was a 6-0 6-3 victor over eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova.

Reflecting on her return to action, Bouchard said: "It's hard to know what to expect. I haven't played a real match since January.

"I've played a couple of exhibitions, which helped a lot, but it's still different, it's not a real tournament. I didn't set any expectations.

"I'm so grateful to have a job and to have this opportunity. You appreciate things more when they're taken away from you."

"I didn't know what to expect in terms of my level. I played better than I expected. I just wanted to be there mentally, no matter what."

Kristyna Pliskova had already played at last week's Palermo Open but was frustrated in her efforts to get past 15-year-old WTA debutant Linda Fruhvirtova on Monday.

The match was twice stopped due to a thunderstorm, with the second heavy downpour leading to the suspension of play for the day.

That meant no action for third seed Elise Mertens and Jasmine Paolini, who each lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in Italy.

Meanwhile, Dayana Yastremska and Daria Kasatkina withdrew from the tournament due to dental and hamstring issues respectively.

Simona Halep was belatedly set to make her WTA comeback on Tuesday.

She told WTA Insider: "Honestly, I don't really know how to manage now the comeback.

"The good thing is that everyone is in the same position. I was not injured and forced to stay away from tennis. Everyone is in the same position and now we will see who is going to manage the comeback better.

"I feel like I have the experience to deal with it and, if I take it relaxed and give my best every match, I'm pretty sure that soon I will touch the level again.

"But I'm also sure I will struggle a little bit because my style and my type of personality is to keep playing matches and always I needed matches to find the rhythm.

"Now it's different. So I cannot complain but I also cannot be happy. It's in the middle."

The 26-year-old Canadian scored a 3-6 6-4 7-5 win over world number 92 Danka Kovinic at the clay-court event to book a semi-final against Spain's Paula Badosa.

Bouchard looked to have the tennis world at her feet in 2014 when she reached two grand slam semi-finals as well as her run to the title match at the All England Club.

Her career has followed a largely downwards trajectory but there have been signs that Bouchard, now a lowly 272nd in the rankings, might be set to climb again.

The Montreal-born player's last final came at the Malaysian Open four and a half years ago, when she lost in three sets to Elina Svitolina.

She had to come through qualifying to earn a main-draw place this week but the effort is paying off.

Bouchard battled what were reported to be shoulder issues in the win over Kovinic on Friday, and said it was a gutsy attitude that saw her win a match that lasted three hours and two minutes.

"I won because of not giving up, fighting, being tired physically and mentally. So I'm really proud of that," Bouchard said, according to the WTA website.

"It shows me that even though I wasn't feeling great before the match, at the start of the match and in the first set, that I can turn things around. There's always hope.

"It gives me a sense of confidence that I can give myself a chance, even when things aren’t going well."

Badosa beat Slovenian third seed Polona Hercog 4-6 6-3 6-4, with Czech player Tereza Martincova and Romanian Patricia Maria Tig setting up a semi-final clash in the bottom half of the draw after both had emphatic last-eight wins.

The Canadian beat the number one seed 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 in a match just short of three hours at the Istanbul Open on Thursday.

Bouchard, who had lost all three previous meetings with Kuznetsova, almost let the first set slip from her grasp and squandered three match points in the second before recovering her poise to close out the win.

Speaking after reaching her third quarter-final of an encouraging year, the 26-year-old said: "That was extremely tough mentally.

"I blocked out mentally that I had missed match-point opportunities, so I had this anger – but I was calm. I had this calm anger at the start of the third set. That motivated me – I wanted to do the right thing after messing up. I wanted to make things better."

Bouchard will face Danka Kovinic next after the Montenegrin beat sixth-seed Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3 6-4.

Fourth seed Caroline Garcia is also out, falling 6-1 6-4 to Tereza Martincova, who will next meet Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Third seed Polona Hercog will face Paula Badosa in her quarter-final after beating Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, while Patricia Tig and Rebecca Peterson will contest the other last-eight match.

The Canadian was a Wimbledon finalist six years ago and looked to have the world at her feet, only for results to drastically tail off.

She endured a wretched 13-match losing streak last season and began this week's tournament in New Zealand as the world number 262, having once been as high as fifth.

But there is still time for 25-year-old Bouchard to turn around her faltering tennis career, and a 6-4 6-4 victory over French eighth seed Caroline Garcia was an eye-catching result.

She and Garcia clattered a host of sparkling winners but each set ended the same way, with former world number four Garcia sending backhand service returns too long.

Playing on a wildcard invitation, Bouchard will next face American Amanda Anisimova, an 18-year-old who has shot up to 25th in the WTA rankings.

Anisimova saw off Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-4 to reach the last eight, teeing up a first meeting with Bouchard.

"Definitely she's playing well," Anisimova said of Bouchard. "It should be exciting to play another new player."

Alize Cornet and Jessica Pegula also won through to the last eight in Auckland.

Spain's former French Open and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza battled through to the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals, beating American Shelby Rogers 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to set up a shot at Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas.

Seeds Wang Qiang and Ekaterina Alexandrova also advanced, and will go head to head on Thursday for a semi-final ticket.

Wednesday was a dominant day for the American contingent at the Brisbane International, with Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Alison Riske all scoring straight-sets wins.

Keys beat Australian Samantha Stosur 7-5 6-3, Collins landed a crushing 6-1 6-0 victory over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, and Riske scored a 6-3 6-4 success against Czech Barbora Strycova.

Former Wimbledon finalist Bouchard endured a miserable 2019 and tumbled down the rankings but reached the Prague Open quarter-finals in her previous outing before qualifying for the main draw in Turkey.

Once there, the Canadian made light work of Tomova, breaking serve six times for a 6-2 6-4 success.

Bouchard was joined in the second round by seeds Caroline Garcia, Alison Van Uytvanck and Misaki Doi.

However, both Garcia and Doi were taken to three sets, the former remarkably dropping the second 6-0 to home hopeful Cagla Buyukakcay while the latter came from behind to beat Ellen Perez.

Margarita Gasparyan, Patricia Maria Tig, Tereza Martincova and Danka Kovinic all also won on Wednesday.

American world number 19 Keys, who reached the US Open final in 2017, had not played on tour since losing to Zhang Shuai in the first round of the French Open in late September – she was ruled out of the Australian swing of this season after a positive coronavirus test.

But Keys roared back to action with a thumping 6-4 6-1 victory over Belinda Bencic on Tuesday, the Swiss who last week reached the Adelaide International final.

"I'm really happy with how I came out and played today," Keys said. "I'm a little bit surprised with myself but hoping to keep the momentum going."

Sakkari promises to pose a tricky test for Keys, who is unseeded this week, given the Greek player dropped only three games in her opening win over Mayar Sherif and has shown bright early-season form.

World number 23 Elena Rybakina tripped up in the first round after the Moscow-born Kazakh player lost 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5) to Germany's 56th-ranked Laura Siegemund at the WTA Premier event.

Jessie Pegula, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ons Jabeur and Misaki Doi also scored straight-sets victories in Doha.

At the Lyon Open, French players Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic were both pushed to three sets before inking their places in the last 16.

Third seed Garcia edged compatriot Oceane Dodin 6-2 2-6 6-3, while fourth seed Mladenovic scrambled for a 5-7 7-5 6-2 win over Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Former Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard, in on a wildcard, was bounced out 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the world number 96 from Belarus.

Fresh from winning the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome, Halep arrived in Paris as favourite and top seed for the final grand slam of the year.

And she marked her 29th birthday with a 6-4 6-0 triumph under the new roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

"The perfect present was that I won, of course," said the 2018 champion. "It was a really special day playing on Roland Garros on my birthday, so it's going to be pretty unique maybe forever.

"I cannot celebrate much, because I have to stay in the room, so I will have a bottle of water.

"I will speak with my very close ones and loved ones. Just that. Nothing special. After the tournament, I will [celebrate properly]."

While Halep, who now faces compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu, had the luxury of an enclosed arena the cold weather outside caused issues for others on a day that saw Venus Williams make an early exit.

AZA-BRRR-ENKA

It was a chilly day in the French capital and few people were more bothered by the conditions than Victoria Azarenka, who donned a jacket and leggings for her match with Danka Kovinic. 

The former world number one triumphed 6-1 6-2 but she left the court three games into the first set claiming it was "too cold", a consequence of the tournament taking place four months later than planned.

"I think my opponent first of all slipped in the third game, so I think she was also feeling a little bit uncomfortable," said Azarenka.

"And I just asked like when my grip is getting wet in between points, are we going to still continue to play?

"And then [the official] told me that if I'm willing to wait a little bit longer while the drizzle stops, because the rain was supposed to increase, and I said absolutely not because I don't see a point of sitting on the court when it's eight degrees.

"I at the same time asked my opponent if she wants to wait on the court or she wants to go off court, and she said she doesn't want to wait on the court.

"So, I'm not going to waste my time sitting there and getting cold."

KONTA DUMPED OUT BY GAUFF

Coco Gauff dumped out ninth seed Johanna Konta as the 16-year-old produced a fine display.

Gauff came through in straight sets, beating the Briton 6-3 6-3 to secure a second-round showdown with qualifier Martina Trevisan.

It constitutes a shock premature departure for Konta, who reached the semi-finals in 2019.

VENUS DONE WITH 2020

Venus Williams declaring she is "done" with 2020 is a statement with which many will be able to identify.

The American veteran, a 2002 finalist at this slam, was beaten 6-4 6-4 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who will now face Azarenka.

Asked if she had any plays to play again this year, the 40-year-old replied: "I'm going home from here. I'm done. If there is somewhere to play, I won't be there."

One player who will have at least one more match this year is Eugenie Bouchard, who overcame Anna Kalinskaya 6-4 6-4.

In racking up her 33rd consecutive win, the world number one ensured she followed up her semi-final appearance at this year's Australian Open with another deep run at Roland Garros.

On the day after her 21st birthday, 2020 French Open champion Swiatek joined a select group of players in managing that feat, with only six women making back-to-back semi-finals at the tournaments at a younger age than the Pole since the turn of the century.

They are Martina Hingis, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Ana Ivanovic, Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova.

Having become just the fourth woman this century to win five consecutive tournaments on the WTA Tour coming into Roland Garros, Swiatek will go into her semi-final clash against Daria Kasatkina confident of taking another step towards a second grand slam title.

Top seed Halep, playing her first tournament since the resumption of the season, took less than an hour to wrap up a crushing 6-2 6-0 victory.

The two-time grand slam champion came through three-set contests with Polona Hercog and Barbora Krejcikova en route to the last eight, but had no such trouble in a one-sided quarter-final.

Halep broke three times in each set as lucky loser Frech, playing her sixth match of the week, was blown away by the Wimbledon champion.

The world number two, yet to confirm if she will play in the upcoming US Open, said: "The whole game was better today.

"I'm happy that I can play better and better day by day. It was a good one and I'll take it."

Halep will either face fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu or Sara Sorribes Tormo for a place in the final, with the latter having taken the first set of their quarter-final before play was suspended due to rain.

Third seed Elise Mertens earlier overcame wildcard Eugenie Bouchard 6-4 1-6 6-4 and will take on Kristyna Pliskova, who advanced when Ana Bogdan retired due to injury when leading 5-2 in the first set.

In her first professional match in almost half a year, world number two Halep, who skipped last week's Palermo Open and will not make a decision on whether to play the US Open or not until after the tournament in the Czech Republic, was made to work hard for victory by the unseeded Hercog.

The Romanian picked up an early break and responded to dropping her serve in game three of the first by reeling off the next four in succession to take the set.

When Halep started the second set by breaking Hercog the writing appeared to be on the wall, but the Slovenian world number 46 fought back valiantly to force a decider in emphatic fashion.

Halep was unable to convert any of the six match points that came her way after breaking for a 5-3 lead, with Hercog clinging on to take the match to a third-set tie-break.

After failing to consolidate an opening mini-break, Hercog's resistance was finally broken after two hours and five minutes when a forehand into the net sent top seed Halep into the second round.

Wildcard Barbora Krejcikova ensured Halep's next match would not be an all-Romanian affair by beating Patricia Maria Tig 6-4 6-3.

Second seed Petra Martic defeated Varvara Gracheva 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 and third seed Elise Mertens needed three sets to overcome Jasmine Paolini 7-5 4-6 6-3.

A number of other seeded players were not as successful. Ekaterina Alexandrova (5) fell to qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6) went down 7-5 6-2 to Arantxa Rus, and Anastasija Sevastova (9) lost 6-2 6-2 to Irina-Camelia Begu.

Neither player was particularly convincing in the early stages, with each of the first four games going against serve, but it was Krejcikova who settled quicker to take the first set 6-3.

She then brought the second set back to 5-5 after being 5-2 down, but Halep managed to see it out to level the match, before going on to seal the 3-6 7-5 6-2 win in the decider.

Top-seed Halep will face Poland's Magdalena Frech – ranked 174 in the world – in the quarter-finals after she saw off Arantxa Rus 6-3 2-6 6-4.

The day began with what turned out to be a gruelling encounter between Eugenie Bouchard and Tamara Zidansek, but the Canadian – who is attempting to climb back up the rankings after slipping to 330 – prevailed to reach her second WTA quarter-final of the year, winning 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 in two hours, 56 minutes.

Sara Sorribes Tormo had no such difficulty against Laura Siegemund as she emerged 6-2 6-3 victor, but she will have to wait until Friday to find out her next opponent after Irina-Camelia's meeting with Leonie Kung was suspended due to poor light.

Kung had just won the first set 7-6 (7-3).

The announcement came in the wake of Osaka revealing she was considering skipping the grand slam in any case, as she suspected it may feel "like an exhibition".

The All England Club's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing has resulted in the WTA and ATP stripping Wimbledon of all ranking points.

Osaka, who is a four-time grand slam champion, suggested after her first-round exit at the French Open that she was unsure about whether to commit to the grass-court major.

Confirmation of her absence from the event, which starts on June 27, came from Wimbledon as her name was added to a list of withdrawals.

The Japanese 24-year-old has only played Wimbledon's main draw three times in her career, twice reaching the third round. She has yet to go further but has won the Australian Open twice and the US Open on two occasions. Recently she complained of a "stubborn" Achilles problem.

Osaka was joined on the withdrawal list by Eugenie Bouchard, the 28-year-old Canadian who was runner-up to Petra Kvitova at the 2014 Wimbledon championships.

Wimbledon listed Bouchard as absent due to a shoulder problem; however, that told only part of the story.

She is battling her way back up the rankings after injury and disappointing results and said she could not risk using a special entry dispensation on a tournament that will carry no points.

Bouchard wrote on Instagram: "I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA's decision to not award ranking points at this year's championships.

"Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking [PR] entries. As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn't make sense. I must choose wisely and use my PR at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be."

She said she would use her protected ranking grand slam entries for the next US Open and Australian Open.

Ukrainian world number 45 Kalinina took the opening set 6-3 before a hip injury prevented Bouchard from continuing.

The Canadian revealed she had retired as a precaution having undergone an MRI on Monday, and did not wish to aggravate the issue any further.

"I'm just disappointed to have ended my tournament in Romania this way because I really loved being here in Cluj," she said. "I pulled my hip flexor a few days in practice. I tried everything to be ready for this match.

"I got an MRI yesterday, and didn't show anything too bad, so I thought I could play. But it was getting worse as the match went on. To avoid a big injury, I figured it would be best to retire.

"I absolutely hate retiring, I wish I could've done better here, but I hope to be back."

Fourth seed Anastasia Potapova beat Ann Li 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to set up a clash with Viktorija Golubic, who overcame Diane Parry in straight sets.

Seventh seed Xiyu Wang advanced in straight sets against home favourite Jaqueline Cristian, while Harriet Dart required just 64 minutes to wrap up a commanding 6-2 6-0 victory over Oceane Dodin.

Former world number one Murray made his grand slam return at the US Open earlier this month, defeating Yoshihito Nishioka before losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.

Murray, 33, was a finalist at Roland Garros in 2016 and reached the semi-finals for four consecutive years between 2014 and 2017.

He is currently ranked 110th in the world after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery last year.

Bouchard enjoyed a restorative run to the final of the Istanbul Open last week, where the 2014 Wimbledon finalist was beaten by Patricia Maria Tig despite taking the first set.

Tsvetana Pironkova has also been awarded a spot in the women's draw after her surprise run to the US Open quarters.

Murray, Bouchard and Pironkova are the only non-French players to receive the 16 wildcards on offer across the two singles draws.

Four-time grand slam champion Osaka won the opening game, before Saville was unable to continue due to a scary-looking injury to her left knee.

The former world number one will now face a second round match with world number 16 Beatriz Haddad Maia, who eased to a straight sets victory over Yuki Naito.

Karolina Pliskova secured her place in the next round in Tokyo with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Isabella Shinikova, while Zhang Shuai will face second seed Caroline Garcia on Wednesday after overcoming Mai Hontama in two sets.

In Seoul, Jelena Ostapenko's hopes of repeating her 2017 heroics at the Korea Open are still alive after the number one seed narrowly beat 19-year-old Jeong Bo-young.

The world number 19 looked to be cruising after the opening set, but the unheralded South Korean hit back in the second and took it to a tie-break in the third, before Ostapenko's class showed as she won the crucial tie-break 7-2.

Elsewhere, 2021's beaten finalist Kristina Mladenovic saw off wildcard Park So-hyun 6-4 4-6 6-3, while second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova overcame a worrying second set to beat Asia Muhammad 6-1 3-6 6-1.

Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria is also safely through to the second round after a tight 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) triumph over Eugenie Bouchard.

The American world number three triumphed 6-2 6-0 in 65 minutes, winning the second set to love in 27 minutes.

Blinkova, who is ranked 63rd in the world, was no match for Pegula, who won 71 per cent on first serve and 65 per cent on her second. Pegula also generated 10 break points, winning 71 per cent on the Russian's second serve.  

The American will take on Romanian 15th seed Irina-Camelia Begu in the round of 16, after she toppled resurgent 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin 6-1 6-4.

Defending champion and fourth seed Belinda Bencic triumphed in the evening session, breezing past Canada's Katherine Sebov 6-0 6-3 in 62 minutes.

Bencic will meet Shelby Rogers in the third round with the American edging countrywoman Caty McNally 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-1.

Ninth seed Madison Keys beat Hailey Baptiste 6-1 6-2, setting up a third-round clash with eighth seed Magda Linette who got past Varvara Gracheva 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-4.

Third seed Daria Kasatkina defeated Madison Brengle 6-2 6-1, progressing to face 38th ranked American Bernarda Para who beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3 6-4.

Spaniard Paula Badosa won 7-5 7-6 (8-6) over 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez and will face Diana Shnaider who upset fifth seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 6-3.

Eugenie Bouchard's campaign at the Copa Colsanitas was halted in the second round with a 6-0 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 loss to fourth seed Kamilla Rakhimova.

After abandoning a last-16 clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia last week in Stuttgart due to a back injury, this time Rybakina lasted the distance against Anna Kalinskaya but suffered a 7-5 4-6 6-2 defeat. She had benefitted from a first-round bye but was found wanting on Friday.

World number 60 Kalinskaya got the better of the seventh-ranked Rybakina in two hours and 13 minutes, avenging a defeat at the same stage in Miami last month to her fellow Moscow-born player.

Iga Swiatek made no such mistake in her opening match, after also receiving a first-round bye, with the world number one posting a 6-3 6-2 win over Austria's Julia Grabher.

Swiatek led by an early break in the second set but was broken back; however, she was soon back in the ascendancy and made sure of a place in the last-32 stage of a tournament she elected to miss last year due to a minor injury.

Third seed Jessica Pegula was tested by Poland's Magdalena Frech, but the American came through 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in an hour and 41 minutes. Pegula was runner-up to Ons Jabeur in last year's final.

Pegula's fellow US player, Alycia Parks, continued to catch the eye as the 22-year-old ousted 15th seed Victoria Azarenka, defeating the former world number one 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Parks, who has rocketed from 150th in the rankings last November to 40th place on that list, now holds a 4-1 career winning record against opponents ranked inside the WTA's top 20.

Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, seeded 11th, was tested by Danka Kovinic before powering through a deciding set to win 6-3 4-6 6-0 against the Montenegrin.

Eugenie Bouchard, meanwhile, was no match for Martina Trevisan, with the Italian running out a 6-2 7-5 winner from a clash with Canada's former Wimbledon runner-up.

Anastasia Potapova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova and Bernarda Pera were among other seeded winners as the last-32 line-up took shape, but 25th seed Jil Teichmann was beaten, going down 3-6 6-2 6-4 to Lesia Tsurenko.

Sakkari is one of the players needing a strong result in the tournament to break into the top-eight of the world rankings to qualify for the upcoming WTA Finals, entering the week at 10th, but only needing to make up one spot, with number eight Simona Halep out due to injury.

With her victory over Kostyuk, Sakkari avoided notching four consecutive losses for the first time this season, and will likely only need one more win to move into WTA Finals contention.

Her next opponent appears to be world number 16 Danielle Collins, who had no issue dispatching American compatriot Caroline Dolehide 6-4 6-1 to book her second-round fixture against Magdalena Frech after the Polish qualifier beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-4.

World number seven Daria Kasatkina also should be locked into the WTA Finals after cruising past China's Lin Zhu 6-1 6-2, while 18th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia's season is over after a disappointing 7-5 6-2 upset loss to Katerina Siniakova.

Petra Kvitova needed to reach the final to have a chance of qualifying, but after a strong first set she fell 3-6 6-2 6-0 against Canada's Bianca Andreescu. In a good day for the Canadians, Eugenie Bouchard also beat Kayla Day 7-5 6-3 as the former world number five fights her way back up the rankings after a long injury layoff.

Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto defeated Russia's Anastasia Potapova 6-2 6-1, while Latvia's top talent Jelena Ostapenko cruised past America's Lauren Davis 6-1 6-3.

Madison Keys was too strong for Magda Linette in a 6-3 6-3 triumph, and in an all-Czech matchup, Marie Bouzkova downed Tereza Martincova 6-2 7-5.

Croatia's Donna Vekic eliminated Brazil's Laura Pigossi 6-4 6-1, and Italy's Martina Trevisan showed why she is top-30 in the world with a convincing 6-4 6-3 straight sets win against Japan's Nao Hibino.

In the last match of the night, world number 10 Caroline Garcia survived an early scared to come from behind and defeat Rebecca Marino 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-5).