WASHINGTON — Canada’s Rebecca Marino lost out in the quarterfinals of the Citi Open on Friday, 6-1, 7-5 over Australian Daria Saville.
Marino, 111th racket in the world, was defeated in just one hour and 19 minutes of play.
The Canadian managed to save just one of the six break points she faced while her rival was able to save six in seven chances.
Saville will face Estonian Kaia Kanepi, seeded sixth, in the semi-finals. In the quarterfinals, Kanepi edged Anna Kalinskaya 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier Friday, fourth-seeded veteran Victoria Azarenka came through in an 80-minute first set to defeat Tereza Martincova 7-6(7), 6-2. The victory, however, exhausted Ararenka who was defeated by China’s Xiyu Wang 6-1, 6-3 in her second match of the day.
Later in the evening, defending US Open champion Emma Raducnau is scheduled to face Liudmila Samsonova.
On the men’s side, Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios needed just 14 minutes to complete his match — delayed due to rain — against Reilly Opelka, 7-6(1), 6-2.
Saving his energy was key for Kyrgios and the others as the US Open prep tournament was played in scorching heat. Kyrgios, the 2019 champion in Washington, is set to play another match tonight, this time in the quarterfinals against Frances Tiafoe.
The matches were stopped again on Friday afternoon due to lightning.
Tiafoe, the 10th seed, beat the eighth seed, Botic van de Zandschulp, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Also due to play on two occasions Friday – due to the weather – the first seed, Andrey Rublev first beat Maxime Cressy 6-4, 7-6 (8). Then he took the measure of the American JJ Wolf 6-2, 6-3 and thus obtained his ticket for the semi-finals.
The Russian is bidding for a fourth ATP title this year, which would put him atop this ranking along with Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
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