WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- No.6 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 to move into the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup WTA tournament on Thursday.
Bencic and Svitolina are the two most recent women to triumph when the event has been held in Toronto in 2015 and 2017 respectively. In the battle of former Rogers Cup champions, Svitolina was the victor, shaking off an early ankle injury scare, a 90-minute rain delay, and four missed match points before steering past Bencic after one hour and 34 minutes of play.
"Today was a lot going on," Svitolina said during her post-match press conference. "We had to stop. I didn't know if it would benefit my ankle or not because, you know, sometimes it can swell. But in the end, I was happy that it didn't, and I was feeling actually better. I had to adjust, and tennis is about adjusting, and I did it today."
Svitolina will now face Sofia Kenin of the United States in the quarterfinals, after the American dispatched Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-2 earlier on Thursday.
Svitolina won their only prior meeting, a tough three-set fight at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells this season.
"I played against Kenin in Indian Wells and didn't know much about her game," Svitolina said. "Now we've seen a lot of matches of hers because she's been winning a lot and playing some great tennis. So it's going to be another tough battle, and I will try to be physically ready and mentally just be there and try to earn my chances, and just play my game."
