World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the WTA tournament in Toronto on Tuesday, falling in three sets in her second-round opener to 29th-ranked American Sofia Kenin.
Australia’s Barty, the French Open champion who was competing for the first time since a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon, battled back from an early break to take the opening set, but she was unable to do the same in the next two sets as 20-year-old Kenin triumphed 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4.
“It just wasn’t there today,” Barty admitted. “At times I was missing by big margins, which is not something that I’m very used to or comfortable with.”
The defeat puts Barty’s No 1 ranking in jeopardy, with both Japan’s Naomi Osaka and Czech Karolina Pliskova eyeing the top spot.
Second-seeded Osaka will open her campaign on Wednesday against Germany’s Tatjana Maria, and if the Japanese star wins there will be a new number one next week.
Osaka is the front-runner to return to the summit, but Pliskova could have a chance if she makes the semi-finals.
“I couldn’t tell from you a bar of soap what’s going on with the rankings,” Barty said. “It’s not something that I worry about or focus on. Regardless of whether it’s number 10, it’s number 50, 200 or it’s number one, it’s just a number next to your name.”
Pliskova next faces US qualifier Alison Riske, who saved three match points on the way to a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic also saved three match points on the way to a 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) win over American Madison Keys.
There was no coming back, however, for seventh-seeded American Sloane Stephens, who fell 6-2, 7-5 to Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova.
Bouzkova, ranked 91st in the world, notched her first win over a top-50 player.
“I honestly still can’t believe it,” said Bouzkova, who broke Stephens five times – taking full advantage of the former US Open champion’s 48 unforced errors.
Stephens will now try to regroup with the US Open fast approaching, as will Barty – who insisted after her defeat “it’s not panic stations.”
