Canadian Open champion Jessica Pegula loses to Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in third round
Sevastova, a 35-year-old from Latvia who was ranked 11th in 2018 but has fallen to 386th, broke the third-seeded Pegula six times on 10 chances.
"Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better," Sevastova said. "Third set, I played really good. "Just trying to stay on the court as long as possible."
In the night session, Wimbledon champion Iga Świątek of Poland routed Eva Lys of Germany 6-2, 6-2. The second-seeded Świątek advanced to face 16th-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Sevastova has played 24 WTA Tour-level matches in four years. She got a spot in the main draw with a protected ranking because of a knee injury. In March 2024, in her fourth tournament back from maternity leave, she tore her ACL in a tour event in Austin, Texas.
"It's tough, but I think I'm a fighter, also on court," Sevastova said. "I didn't want to give up. This was really about coming back and showing that you can do it after a torn ACL, after such a setback. It was like unfinished business."
Sevastova is the lowest-ranked player to beat a top-10 player since Angelique Kerber edged Jelena Ostapenko last year at Indian Wells.
She beat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets in the opening round at the Canadian Open, before eliminating Polish 25th seed Magda Linette to set up the match against Pegula.
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The loss continued a poor run for the fourth-ranked Pegula, who won her opener in Montreal over Maria Sakkari of Greece, but exited Wimbledon and the D.C. Open after one match in July.
"It hasn't been great, to be honest," Pegula said. "I don't really feel like I'm playing great tennis. At times I am, but I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don't like. It really bothers me."
Sevastova will take on Naomi Osaka, who moved to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Osaka, a former world number one from Japan, is playing her first tournament with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, She had five aces and converted six of nine break-point opportunities to win the match in one hour, 12 minutes.
"She broke me a couple times, but she's a really good returner, so I can't take that personally," Osaka said.
"I went in there knowing she's a great player, and if I give her a chance she's going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could."
Sixth-seeded Madison Keys beat fellow American Caty McNally 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
"Today I did a good job of bouncing back after the first set," Keys said. "Let go of the first set and move on. Happy I was able to do that."
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