WTA Montreal: The Round of 16 lineup is set, as Sevastova defeats defending champion Pegula

On August 1, 2025, local time, the women's singles Round of 16 was determined at the WTA 1000 Montreal event. Two-time defending champion and tournament's No. 3 seed, Pegula, lost to Latvian veteran Sevastova with scores of 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, ending her 11-match winning streak at this event.

Pegula

Image: Visual China

Pegula has had a stellar performance in Canada over the past two years, and as the current world No. 4, she aimed for a third consecutive title this year. However, only Seles has achieved this feat from 1995 to 1998 (four consecutive titles). Before the tournament began, Pegula mentioned in an interview that she still has a long way to go for the three-peat. After receiving a bye in the first round, she eliminated Sakkari in the second round.

In this round, facing Latvian veteran Sevastova, Pegula lost her focus after leading 6-3, 2-0. After wasting seven break points at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third, she completely lost the initiative and was ultimately reversed by her opponent, ending her title defense journey. Pegula has only won 1 out of her last 4 singles matches on the tour, showing a decline in form since winning at the WTA Bad Homburg in June.

Sevastova

Image: Visual China

At 35 years old, Sevastova once achieved her career-best ranking of No. 11 in 2018. However, after facing setbacks such as retirement, childbirth, comebacks, and injuries, she is now ranked No. 386. Over the past four years, Sevastova has only participated in 24 WTA tour singles events, and she secured a spot in the main draw of this tournament through protected ranking.

After the match, Sevastova said, "I don't know what happened, but after being down 0-2 in the second set, my game improved. I played really well in the third set; I just wanted to stay on the court as long as possible." She will next face Naomi Osaka for a spot in the quarterfinals, who defeated another Latvian player, Ostapenko, in just 72 minutes with scores of 6-2, 6-4.

Swiatek

Image: Visual China

No. 2 seed Swiatek defeated Lis in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, advancing to the Round of 16 with a nine-match winning streak. She will face No. 16 seed Townsend, who easily defeated Starydobtseva with scores of 6-3, 6-0. No. 5 seed Anisimova swept Raducanu 6-2, 6-1, achieving her first victory over the latter in three encounters, and will face No. 10 seed Svitolina, who defeated Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-1. No. 6 seed Keys made a strong comeback against compatriot McNally with scores of 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, and will meet No. 11 seed Muchova, who came back to defeat Bencic with scores of 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3.

WTA Montreal Women's Singles Round of 16 Matchups

[1] Gauff vs. Mboko [W]

Zhu Lin vs. Bostad Maneiro

[28] Kessler vs. Kostyuk [24]

[9] Rybakina vs. Yastremska [30]

[5] Anisimova vs. Svitolina [10]

Naomi Osaka vs. Sevastova

(6) Keys vs. Muchova [11]

[16] Townsend vs. Swiatek [2]

Chinese player Zhu Lin is expected to appear on center court tomorrow morning at 7:30 Beijing time, competing against Spanish player Bostad Maneiro for a spot in the quarterfinals. This encounter is a showdown between the two players, both striving to achieve their best results in WTA 1000 events.

Additionally, the women's doubles No. 2 seeds Zhang Shuai/Townsend will face off against the "Strait Combination" of Jiang Xinyu/Zhan Haoqing in the quarterfinals; Guo Hanyu/Panova will compete against Hsieh Su-wei/Danilovic in the quarterfinals. These two matches will take place at Rogers Stadium starting at 6:00 AM Beijing time tomorrow.

(Text and editing: Dato)