Britain's top two tennis stars, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter, began their Canadian Open campaign on Monday (28 July) in Montreal with contrasting results.
Raducanu recently overtook Boulter to regain her status as British number one after her run to the semi-finals of the Washington Open last week.
The run in Washington also saw the 22-year-old climb 13 places in the WTA rankings up to world number 33.
In Raducanu's opening round matchup with Elena-Gabriela Ruse, a close friend of hers, the Brit dealt with an early scare as she faced five break points in her opening service game.
However, the 2021 US Open singles champion was able to hold her serve. After her opponent held serve in the next game to go up 2-1, Raducanu won five straight games to take the opening set 6-2.
The second set saw both players land two breaks, but it was Raducanu who found the third and decisive break in the ninth game to go up 5-4, before she served out the next game to take the set 6-4 and win the match.
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After her opening round win in Montreal, Raducanu told Sky Sports: "I'm so happy to come through that. I know Elena, she's a very good friend of mine, and it's difficult when you have to play someone you're close to."
"I'm really proud of how I put that (her friendship with Ruse) to one side for the match and backed up a good week last week in DC and performed well today."
Raducanu's next match takes place tomorrow (30 July) against American 32nd seed, Peyton Stearns.
No luck for Boulter in Canada
While Raducanu continues to build up momentum in the North American hard court season, Boulter is dealing with the polar opposite.
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She suffered a tough 6-1 7-5 loss to Renata Zarazua, and exits the second successive tournament in the opening round after losing to Maria Sakkari in straight sets in Washington last week.
Boulter struggled to settle from early on in Montreal as she lost five straight games and came close to being on the end of a bagel in the opening set. The 28-year-old managed to fight off two break points to prevent that.
Despite improving in the second set through landing two breaks, Boulter was broken herself on three occasions and never seriously threatened to level the contest.
The Canadian Open is the first of two Masters 1000 events on both the WTA and ATP tours ahead of the US Open in late August. The women's event is taking place in Montreal while the men compete in Toronto.
The Cincinnati Open will follow the Canadian Open when it begins at the start of August.
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