In a surprising upset at the WTA Cincinnati Open, defending champion Coco Gauff, ranked second, was knocked out in her opening match by Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh player, ranked 34th, overcame Gauff with scores of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The loss was a major shock for the American crowd, who had high hopes for Gauff in the final major tune-up before the US Open, where she is the reigning champion.
Putintseva, who had previously achieved an upset by defeating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, expressed her satisfaction with her performance. Despite the crowd’s support for Gauff, Putintseva felt the audience was fair and credited her instinctive play on the fast courts for her victory. She will next face Spain's Paula Badosa, who secured her place by defeating Anna Kalinsyaka with a score of 6-3, 6-2.
In other matches, third seed Aryna Sabalenka continued her strong form at Cincinnati by defeating Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-4. Sabalenka, who had missed Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics due to a shoulder injury, has now won six of her seven opening matches at this event. Despite Cocciaretto’s battle with a hip issue and thigh problems, Sabalenka maintained her level of play and advanced to the next round.
Elena Rybakina faced a tough loss in her first match since Wimbledon, going down to Canadian Leylah Fernandez with a score of 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4. Rybakina struggled with 17 double faults and was unable to capitalize on her 20 aces. Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina, a semifinalist from nine years ago, defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-1, setting up a match against Sabalenka. In a surprising result, Elina Avanesyan, recently representing Armenia, staged a comeback to defeat eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
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