Pegula and Kasatkina Triumph in Second Round; Sakkari Stunned in Montreal – Top

Top 10 seeds Jessica Pegula and Daria Kasatkina made their way into the Round of 16 at the WTA 1000 Omnium Banque Nationale with straight-set wins on Wednesday, but Maria Sakkari suffered an upset in Montreal.

No.4 seed Pegula of the United States booked her third-round spot with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over lucky loser Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on Court Rogers.

More from Wednesday in Montreal: No.1 seed Swiatek ousts Pliskova

Pegula is now 2-0 against Putintseva, with both of the American’s wins coming at this event. Pegula also knocked Putintseva out in straight sets in last year’s quarterfinals.

Pegula will meet No.49 Jasmine Paolini of Italy in her next match. Pegula has a commanding head-to-head lead over Paolini, having won all of their four previous meetings in straight sets.

Paolini advanced into the Round of 16 when her second-round opponent, No.13 seed Madison Keys, withdrew from their match with a glute injury.

No.10 seed Kasatkina held off Anna Blinkova 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the Round of 16. In their first meeting, Kasatkina converted nine of her 13 break points to seal victory over No.34 Blinkova.

It is a return to form at the Omnium Banque Nationale for Kasatkina. She reached the quarterfinals in her tournament main-draw debut in 2016, but she had not made the Round of 16 at the event since then until this week.

Kasatkina will next take on No.37 Marie Bouzkova, who ousted No.5 seed Caroline Garcia on Tuesday night. Kasatkina is 2-0 against Bouzkova, with both wins coming on hard court, but she needed three sets on each occasion to prevail.

Danielle Collins pulled off Wednesday’s first Top 10 upset by easing past No.8 seed Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-2 in the Court Rogers night session.

Collins, the 2022 Australian Open runner-up, posted her 11th career Top 10 win — and her first of this year — by ousting Sakkari in 1 hour and 26 minutes. The second-round victory backed up Collins’ first-round defeat of resurgent Elina Svitolina.

Former World No.7 Collins will have her first career meeting with Leylah Fernandez, the last Canadian standing, in the Round of 16. Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist, defeated last year’s Omnium Banque National runner-up, Beatriz Haddad Maia, earlier on Wednesday.