Venus, Keys Set Up Round of 16 Showdown in Montreal
American Venus Williams cruised into the Rogers Cup third round on Wednesday, dismantling Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-0 in less than an hour to advance in Montreal.
“It was definitely more straightforward, I think, than all of our other matches,” said Venus. “I didn’t mind that, especially after playing a lot last week, just to be able to come out and hopefully advance to the next round.”
After securing one more break point than Strycova to take the opening set, Venus dominated the second set. She broke in all three of Strycova’s service games and never surrendered a break point chance to easily move on.
In the third round, Venus will take on fellow big-hitting American Madison Keys, who beat American Madison Brengle 6-4, 6-3 in her match on Wednesday.
Keys won 68 percent of her service points and broke Brengle four times to move through in straight sets.
Venus leads the head-to-head series with Keys 2-1.
The other two Americans in action on Wednesday were both eliminated. 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Christina McHale 6-2, 7-5, while 15th seed Johanna Konta knocked off Vania King 7-5, 6-1.
Konta will take on another American Varvara Lepchenko, while Pavlyuchenkova will meet Agnieszka Radwanska. The fourth-seed Radwanska defeated Monica Niculescu 6-1, 7-5 on Wednesday.
With the home crowd behind her, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard booked her spot in the final 16 rather easily, downing Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-0 on Wednesday.
“It feels special playing in Montreal,” she said to the crowd afterwards. “I don’t get to do it often, so it just makes me extra motivated to play in front of you guys.”
Bouchard looked extra motivated on Wednesday. After escaping a three-set affair with Lucie Safarova in the last round, Bouchard wasted no time against Cibulkova. She hit 22 winners compared to four for Cibulkova, and was dialed in from the start.
“I felt very solid and very focused,” Bouchard added. “It’s important for me to keep my focus and keep my energy up. You never know what can happen against an amazing player like her, so I had to stay focused until the very end.”
In the Round of 16, Bouchard will meet Cibulkova’s compatriot Kristina Kucova, who came back from a set down to upset eighth-seed Carla Suarez-Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Angelique Kerber fought off and outlasted Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to book her spot in the final 16, hanging on for the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory. She will take on 17th seed Elina Svitolina next, a 7-6(2), 7-6(3), winner of Canada’s Francoise Abanda.
Seventh-seed Roberta Vinci, ninth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, 12th seed Petra Kvitova, 14th seed Karolina Pliskova and Darya Kasatkina all advanced on Wednesday to round out the final 16 in Montreal.
