Iga Swiatek suffers shock exit to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in marathon Canadian Open clash in Toronto

World No.1 Iga Swiatek suffered another shock early tournament elimination as she fell to a 4-6 6-3 5-7 defeat to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in a marathon three-set Canadian Open third-round clash on Thursday in Toronto.

The shock result saw Haddad Maia become the first Brazilian player to reach a WTA 1000 quarter-final, and the first female Brazilian to win a match against the World No. 1 since 1984.

Swiatek found herself in trouble after having her serve broken early, and she surrendered the opening set before launching a determined fightback in the second.

Both players were broken twice inside their opening four service games in a helter-skelter third set, but Haddad Maia eventually triumphed by taking her fourth match point opportunity, just as the contest looked poised for a decisive tie-break.

Swiatek was looking to return to winning ways after her stunning 2022 form finally dipped in July, with a third round exit at Wimbledon and quarter-final Poland Open elimination.

Instead she suffered another early exit, although her seasonal record remains incredibly impressive at 48 wins and six defeats.

Haddad Maia has also enjoyed a superb year, rising from 83rd to 24th in the rankings and winning titles in Nottingham and Birmingham. She will face the winner of Belinda Bencic against Garbine Muguruza next on Friday.

It didn’t take long for Haddad Maia to ask difficult questions of the tournament favourite, as she broke in Swiatek’s third service game.

The 26-year-old played some superb stuff, the highlight being a deft drop volley onto the line at full stretch that Swiatek couldn’t catch.

Haddad Maia held her nerve on serve to see out the set and was immediately a nuisance again at the start of the second, somehow responding to a powerful Swiatek backhand at the net with a lob volley.

Swiatek recovered to win the game and by early in the second set she had already needed to save seven break points, but the French Open champion then found her rhythm and took the second set 6-3, finishing with a flourish with her first love hold of the match.

The top seed was immediately on the front foot in the deciding set, taking her second break point opportunity for an early advantage, but Haddad Maia proved she wouldn’t go down without a fight as she immediately broke back.

The pendulum swung in Haddad Maia’s favour when she screamed in celebration as a Swiatek backhand drifted long to hand the Brazilian another break of serve at 4-2, but again there was an immediate response as Swiatek broke back in the following game.

Swiatek had a nervy moment as she faced a match point, but showed all her class by responding with an ace. In her next service game, at 5-6, she faced two more match points and again survived as Haddad Maia netted twice.

But it was fourth time lucky for Haddad Maia, who defended well in a hard-hitting rally before Swiatek went long to hand the Brazilian victory.

Elsewhere, American No. 10 seed Coco Gauff fought her way through a three-hour epic against Aryna Sabalenka to win in three sets and reach her sixth quarter-final of the season.

The 18-year-old spent three hours 11 minutes on court, making it the longest match of her career, before triumphing 7-5 4-6 7-6 (4) in a third set tie-break against the sixth seed from Belarus.

She will face Simona Halep in the quarter-finals, after the Romanian swept past Jil Teichmann 6-2 7-5 to reach her 39th WTA 1000 quarter-final – a record only Agnieszka Radwanska (42) can better.

Defending champion Camila Giorgi fell at the third round stage despite taking the first set against seventh seed Jessica Pegula of the United States.

The Italian took the opening set 6-3, but collapsed to lose the second 0-6 before being edged out 7-5 in the third by the 28-year-old.