TORONTO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Grand Slam champions Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin were all eliminated on the first day of action in the WTA tennis tournament in Toronto on Tuesday.
24-year-old Andreescu, who won this tournament and the U.S. Open in 2019, was unable to capitalize on a perfect first set against No. 85 ranked Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, falling 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.
2017 U.S. Open Champion Sloane Stephens didn't fare much better, losing in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to Belgian Greet Minnen.
Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open winner, was eliminated by 30-year-old Chinese qualifier Wang Yafan in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(3).
Wang is making her Canadian Open debut and will face top seed Coco Gauff in the next round.
World No. 2 ranked Gauff is the top seed after seven of the top ten, including World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland and newly crowned Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China, dropped out of the event due to the scheduling clash with the 2024 Paris Olympics.
No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 6 Jessica Pegula are the other top 10 players vying for the 523,485 Canadian-dollar (about 380,000 U.S. dollars) top prize. Pegula is the defending champion after defeating Liudmila Samsonova in Montreal last year.
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, who won the tournament in 2017, made quick work of American Shelby Rogers with a 6-0, 6-2 win in 70 minutes.
Lastly, former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the No. 12 seed, defeated Russian opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2. ■
