The Canadian Open has delivered several surprises for two of the top-seeded players: Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek, both of whom suffered shocking defeats in the fourth round. After their eliminations, the battle for the World No. 2 spot in the WTA rankings will continue at the Cincinnati Open.
Gauff was stunned in straight sets by wildcard Victoria Mboko in the last 16, leaving Swiatek with a golden opportunity to overtake her in the rankings if she went all the way and claimed the title. However, Clara Tauson dashed those hopes with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory.
Gauff currently holds the No. 2 spot with 7,789 points, while Swiatek trails by 856 points. Both players remain well behind World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (12,225 points), who opted not to compete in the tournament.
The World No. 2 battle continues in Cincinnati
Swiatek will get another chance at the Cincinnati Open, though she faces an uphill task. She starts the tournament with an 846-point deficit—the current 856-point gap minus the 10 points Gauff is defending after her second-round exit in 2024.
Coco Gauff reacts during her match againts Victora Mboko (Getty Images)
The Pole has no points to defend from last year’s WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, as her 390 points from reaching the semi-finals were removed following a positive test for the banned substance trimetazidine after the tournament.
Swiatek will need to win the tournament (worth 1,000 points) and hope that Gauff exits early. However, she admits she still needs to rediscover her rhythm on hard courts following the grass-court season, despite coming with a great nine-match winning streak.
“I still feel like I kind of need to transition on hard courts. And these matches are also kind of to learn again,” the six-time Grand Slam winner said after her defeat. “I feel like I did kind of the same mistakes I did at the end of my hard court season in March.”
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Meanwhile, Gauff has struggled with her serve. In her three-set win over Danielle Collins, she recorded 24 double faults, and against Veronika Kudermetova, she added another 14. Against Mboko, she committed five more.
