WTA Canadian Open Round-Up: Anisimova stuns Sabalenka, Navarro ends Townsend’s dream

Amanda Anisimova and Emma Navarro secured decisive victories in the quarter-finals and will face off for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open. They have met once before, with Anisimova winning back in the 2022 Indian Wells.

In the first match of the day, Navarro ended Taylor Townsend’s impressive run, while later Anisimova surprised world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.

The start of the hardcourt season has been an ideal time for Anisimova to showcase her best form on the Tour. The American took a break from her career in April 2023 for mental health reasons and returned in January 2024. She had some good performances upon her return, including reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, but injuries affected her consistency in the following months.

At the DC Open last week, she advanced from qualifying to the quarter-finals, including wins against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and former US Open champion Sloane Stephens. This week, she again advanced through qualifying and has now eliminated three top favorites: Daria Kasatkina (No. 12), Anna Kalinskaya (No. 17), and Aryna Sabalenka (No. 3).

The first set was highly contested, with the American saving up to five break points against her. However, a chance in the 10th game gave her a tight 6-4 set. In the second set, Sabalenka took the first break and led 2-1, but began to falter due to her own errors and Anisimova’s strong performance. Anisimova won five consecutive games and sealed the victory 6-4, 6-2, eliminating the last remaining top favorite in the draw.

Anisimova continues to climb the WTA Ranking and is guaranteed to reach at least world No. 66 after the tournament, with the potential to return to the top-50 if she reaches the final.

Emma Navarro continues her good run in Toronto, taking advantage of her favoritism to defeat Taylor Townsend (No. 71) 6-3, 7-6(5). The world No. 15 took an early break to lead 2-0, though Townsend managed to recover the break in the next game and equalize.

With the score at 3-3, Navarro saved two break points against her and quickly took a break in the next game, turning the match around. The New Yorker, aged 23, secured the first set 6-3 after 39 minutes.

In the second set, Townsend fought back, leveraging the power of her serve (with 9 aces throughout the match) and capitalizing on Navarro’s errors, who committed 8 double faults (compared to only one by Townsend). Both players held serve throughout the set and it went to a tie-break, where Navarro showed her class and closed out the match 6-3, 7-6(5).

Navarro’s previous best result in a WTA 1000 event was reaching the quarter-finals at Indian Wells this year (losing to Maria Sakkari), and she will be in the semi-finals for the first time, also guaranteeing her best ranking as world No. 13. On the other hand, Anisimova had previously reached the quarter-finals at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open and Rome Open in 2022 (both on clay courts), but had never made it to the semi-finals before.