Toronto Round 1 - Kuznetsova, Bartoli out

The first day of action in Toronto saw four of the five seeds sent packing. Svetlana Kuznetsova who has struggled for consistency this year was defeated by the Romanian, Simona Halep, 4-6 6-4 6-3. Kuznetsova beat Halep in their only previous encounter earlier this year in Miami, 6-0 6-4 and was heading for a similarly straightforward win at 6-4 2-0 up in this match. However, Kuznetsova went wandering as Halep kept the balls in play and managed to force the match into a third set. Kuznetsova continued to make sloppy errors off both wings as she went down a break in the third set. She then called a time out to have some taping reapplied to her foot, which appeared to be an act of gamesmanship at 4-3 down. Thankfully, Halep was able to hold her nerve and pull through with the biggest win of her career so far.

Kuznetsova was extremely disappointing in defeat against Halep

Marion Bartoli also fell by the wayside as she went down to the Kazakh, Galina Voskoboeva. Voskoboeva has been in a rich vein of form recently including a semi-final run in Baku. However not many people would have predicted an upset here. Bartoli looked slow around the court and was not hitting the ball with her usual force and conviction. Voskoboeva, like Halep held her nerve well to complete the victory, 6-3 6-3. In other matches, Julia Goerges turned around her recent woeful form with a dominant 6-1 6-3 victory over Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic was playing her first competitive match since the 21st of June and showed it looking rusty throughout the entire match. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was also defeated in three sets by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who is beginning to look a fearsome threat once again on the tour. Sam Stosur was the only seed to progress as she overcame the loss of the first set to defeat Ayumi Morita, 4-6 6-2 6-3.


Martinez Sanchez was out injured for the second half of last season but is starting to regain some of the form that helped her to the title in Rome last year