pliskova

TORONTO — Czech star and former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova has advanced to the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup.

The current No. 3 downed No. 16-seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday in the first match of the day on the Aviva Centre’s centre court.

Pliskova made quick work of Kontaveit, defeating the world’s 19th-ranked player in one hour 20 minutes.

She won 80 per cent of her first-service points, converted 4-of-11 break points and saved 3 of 5.

Pliskova, who needed three sets against American qualifier Alison Riske on Wednesday, said she felt an improvement in her game against Kontaveit.

"For sure better than it was maybe yesterday," Pliskova said. "So I guess it’s going to get better every day with what I play. And I always was, I am, improving with matches."

Pliskova can reclaim the top spot on the WTA rankings with a solid run at the Premier 5 event this week. She will face the winner between Canadian Bianca Andreescu and No. 5-seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

She also reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup the last time it was in Toronto in 2017, during her seven-week run as the top-ranked player in the world.

Andreescu, one of three teenagers playing in third-round singles matches Thursday, followed the Pliskova-Kontaveit match on centre court. The players took the court but left quickly when steady rain rolled into the area and suspended play in the first game.

The 19-year-old Andreescu had never played Bertens before Thursday. But Andreescu entered the match with a 4-0 record against top-10 ranked opponents this year — including her Indian Wells final win over then-No. 8 Angelique Kerber in March for her first WTA title.

Andreescu has played nearly five hours of tennis over the first two days of the tournament in Toronto. She needed three sets to defeat Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday night, and three against fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the first round Tuesday.

The Mississauga, Ont., teen looked to be out of the tournament on Wednesday — facing a 5-3 deficit in the third set of her late afternoon match against Kasatkina — but rallied by winning four straight games to advance to the third round.

In other early play Thursday, American Sofia Kenin continued her stellar run at the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska.

Kenin, ranked No. 29, had knocked off the top-ranked Ashleigh Barty on Tuesday to reach the third round. She will play the winner between Belinda Bencic and Elina Svitolina, both former Rogers Cup champions, in the quarterfinals.

Wimbledon champion Simona Halep of Romania played Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia later Thursday. Halep, who won the 2018 Rogers Cup title in Montreal, needed three sets and a tiebreak to oust 76th-ranked American Jennifer Brady in the second round.

No. 2 Naomi Osaka of Japan was slated for the late match against qualifier Iga Swiatek. Swiatek upset former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets Wednesday night.

Also Thursday, American star Serena Williams took on Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko played qualifier Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.<