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Montreal - Venus Williams tumbled out in
the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Thursday, suffering an upset
loss to Madison Keys in her final tournament before the Olympics.
The sixth-seeded Williams was beaten 6-1,
6-7 (2/7), 6-3 by 10th seed Keys, who will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in
the quarter-finals.
Williams, 36, looked well below her best as
Keys raced away with the first set before forging a 3-1 lead in the second.
However Williams, who reached the final of
last week's tournament in Stanford, rallied to level with victory in the second
set tiebreak.
Keys raised her game in the decisive third
set however and quickly broke Williams to gain the advantage before converting
match point with an ace to seal the win.
Pavlyuchenkova earlier scored the biggest
upset of the day with a three-set victory over 2014 champion and fourth seed
Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, winning 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1.
The win comes hard on the heels of her
impressive showing at Wimbledon where she reached the quarter-finals for the
first time.
"I'm really happy and I knew it'd be a
tough match. Every time I play against Agnieszka it's 7-6 in the third, or
something," the in-form Russian said.
"She's a really tough opponent, and so
I'm really pleased with the win."
Elsewhere Thursday, fifth seed Simona Halep
breezed into the last eight, needing just 68 minutes to claim a 6-3, 6-3 win
over 14th-ranked Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
"I'm happy that I won today. It's nice
to be in the quarterfinals again, a second year in a row," the 24-year-old
Romanian said.
Halep will face ninth-ranked Svetlana
Kuznetsova of Russia in the next round. Kuznetsova defeated 12th seed Petra
Kvitova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7/2) 6-3.
In another Russian victory on Thursday, Daria Kasatkina knocked out seventh-ranked Italian Roberta Vinci, 7-5, 6-3.
Results from Rogers Cup WTA Tournament in Montreal on Thursday (x denotes seed):
3rd rd
Johanna Konta (GBR x15) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Kristina Kucova (SVK) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Madison Keys (USA x10) bt Venus Williams (USA x6) 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x16) bt Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x4) 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x9) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x12) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3
Simona Halep (ROM x5) bt Karolina Pliskova (CZE x14) 6-3, 6-3
Darya Kasatkina (RUS) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x7) 7-5, 6-3
Angelique Kerber (GER x2) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR x17) 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4
