Two of the top three seeds fell Thursday in third-round matches at the National Bank Open in Toronto, with unseeded Beatriz Haddad Maia knocking off No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek and No. 14 Karolina Pliskova taking out third-seeded Maria Sakkari.
Haddad Maia, of Brazil, delivered an inspired effort to hang on to defeat the Switzerland’s Swiatek 6–4, 3–6, 7–5, under windy conditions at Sobeys Stadium.
“She just used the conditions better than me,” Swiatek said after the loss. “When she was playing with the wind, she was playing really strong balls.”
Ranked 24th in the world, Haddad Maia’s win is the first in her career over a world No. 1….