Tennis-Defending champion Pegula sent packing by Sevastova at Canadian Open, Swiatek through

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(Reuters) -Twice defending champion Jessica Pegula crashed out of the Canadian Open after losing to Anastasija Sevastova 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the third round on Friday, while six-times major winner Iga Swiatek marched on with a dominant 6-2 6-2 win over Eva Lys.

The 35-year-old Sevastova, ranked 386 in the world, will next face four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, who took out Latvian 22nd seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-4.

“I don’t know,” Sevastova said after upsetting third seed Pegula. “Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better. Third set, I played really good. Just trying to stay on the court as long as possible.”

Wimbledon runner-up Amanda Anisimova, seeded fifth in Montreal, carved out a comfortable win over Emma Raducanu, beating the 2021 U.S. Open champion 6-2 6-1.

Anisimova’s win over Raducanu is her first, having lost their previous two encounters. She will next face Ukrainian 10th seed Elina Svitolina.

In the men’s draw, American second seed Taylor Fritz made light work of local hope Gabriel Diallo, beating the 27th seed 6-4 6-2.

Fritz, who is eyeing a third title of the season after triumphs in Eastbourne and Stuttgart, will next take on Czech 19th seed Jiri Lehecka.

“Even the games that I didn’t serve my best in, I felt like I backed it up really well from the baseline, so I’m happy with that,” Fritz said.

American fourth seed Ben Shelton, however, was made to work hard by countryman Brandon Nakashima before managing a 6-7(8) 6-2 7-6(5) win.

“It was back and forth,” Shelton said. “There were a lot of huge moments, like being able to break back after getting broken in my first service game of the third set. I feel like I showed a lot of perseverance tonight.”

Next up for Shelton is Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)