WTA Toronto: Shnaider stuns top seed Gauff to reach quarter-finals

Russian Diana Shnaider, the No 14 seed, upset American Coco Gauff, the top seed, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA National Bank Open at the Aviva Centre in Toronto on Friday.

This was the first top 10 win in her career for the 20-year-old left-hander. The Russian has now won 15 of her last 17 matches, including titles in Bad Homburg (grass) and Budapest (clay).

Shnaider, ranked No 24 and a recent Olympic silver medallist in women’s doubles, will play fellow Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 6 seed, next.

Ahead of her win today, the 20-year-old Russian edged out lucky loser Harriet Dart (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2)) and Pole Magdalena Frech (2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)) in the tournament. This is also the first time that she has advanced to the last eight of a WTA 1000 Series event.

Gauff, ranked No 2, defeated Chinese qualifier Yafan Wang (6-4, 6-4) earlier in the week. This was the first time in her career that the American lost to a player younger than her on tour. She had been 7-0 in meetings against younger players on the pro tour prior to today’s match.

Toronto WTA 1000, other round of 16 matches (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 3,211,715):

• Liudmila Samsonova beat Elise Mertens: 6-2, 6-4
• Peyton Stearns beat Victoria Azarenka (12): 6-4, 4-2 ret.
• Amanda Anisimova beat Anna Kalinskaya (10): 6-2 ret.
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Ashlyn Krueger (Q): 6-2, 6-4
• Taylor Townsend (LL) beat Jelena Ostapenko (4): 6-2, 6-1
• Emma Navarro (8) beat Marta Kostyuk (11): 7-5, 7-5
• Katie Boulter vs. Aryna Sabalenka

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