Emma Raducanu was dumped out of the National Bank Open in Montreal as she went down 6-2, 6-1 to the American fifth seed Amanda Anisimova.
Raducanu had won both of their previous meetings, but rarely looked like extending that run as she held her serve only once in either set.
Anisimova, who reached the Wimbledon final last month only to lose 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek, came from 40-15 down to break Raducanu’s serve in the second game of the match and, although the British No1 broke back immediately, she was unable to fashion another break point in the contest.
Anisimova broke again to make it 3-1 and added a third break to wrap up the set. Her dominance continued in the second set as Raducanu won only eight points on her own serve, avoiding the whitewash after losing the first five games before Anisimova served out for a place in the fourth round. She will face seed the No10 Elina Svitolina or Anna Kalinskaya in the last 16.
Raducanu is currently ranked No33, which is her highest position since September 2022, when she lost the ranking points from her US Open triumph the previous year. It puts her right on the cusp of being seeded for the final grand-slam tournament of the season at Flushing Meadows, which begins later this month.
Her next opportunity to cement that seeding will likely be at the Cincinnati Open where, despite this defeat, she will be confident of putting together a string of victories. Since putting in a strong performance in a third-round defeat by world No1 Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon, Raducanu has won five of her seven matches, all in straight sets.
Anisimova outclassed Raducanu, who could still earn a seeding for the US Open
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Wimbledon champion Swiatek needed little more than an hour to complete a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Eva Lys in Montreal, but Jessica Pegula’s bid for a third straight Canadian Open title was ended by world No386 Anastasija Sevastova.
The Latvian, a former world No11 who has had lengthy spells out on maternity leave and with a torn ACL, came back from a set down to beat the third seed 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.