Sakkari advances after Bouzkova retires while Dodin upsets Muchova

Maria Sakkari is through after yet another retirement in Montreal while Karolina Muchova crashed out versus an inspired Dodin.

Maria Sakkari stepped out to play her first-round match at the National Bank Open vs Bouzkova today and it was a struggle early. The Greek players tend to have the occasional slugfest and today was no different. Bouzkova was playing well early and Sakkari needed some time to settle. She closed out the first set with a 4-0 run to win it 6-4.

Bouzkova faltered in the 2nd set as Sakkari jumped out to a 3-1 lead before Bouzkova decided to retire from the match. The Czech player did not suffer any injury but rather felt unwell and retired due to an apparent illness. Sakkari moves on to the 3rd round after a 3rd retirement of the day in the WTA draw.

Joining her in the next round will be Oceane Dodin who created a major upset win over the heavily favoured Karolina Muchova. The Czech player became a household name at the Australian Open when she shockingly defeated Ashleigh Barty. Since then Muchova continued to play a solid season but arrived in Montreal out of form.

She was supposed to play in Tokyo however Vondrousova exercised her protected ranking to jump in the event instead of her which hurt her form and confidence. Today she was upset by Dodin who ranks outside the top 100 but the French player was the better player.