Peroni Nastro Azzuro Refresh: Recap of Day 6 at the NBO

When Jessica Pegula breezed past Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-0 to kick off the day’s action, few (except maybe a meteorologist) might have been able to predict the kind of day that would await us in for the rest of Thursday’s sensational order of play.

The hotly anticipated French Open rematch between World No.1 Iga Swiatek and No. 14 seed Karolina Muchova kicked off with little fuss at 12:30 p.m. under a slightly overcast sky. Swiatek zipped through the first set with the loss of just a single game, but multiple shifts in momentum in the second set saw the encounter become a much more competitive affair.

By the time Muchova had masterfully broken four-time Grand Slam champ to claim the second set and send proceedings into a decider – the weather decided it wanted to draw out the suspense for a bit longer.

Correction, a lot longer.

Swiatek-Muchova was delayed for nearly seven more hours (with a brief period in between that saw the two play 10 points before the rain came back). 10th seed Daria Kasatkina’s third-round clash with Marie Bouzkova on Rogers Court was also delayed, with both singles matches and a handful of doubles matches waiting until nearly 9:00 p.m. to restart.

Kasatakina, yet to drop a set in the tournament, would ultimately close out Bouzkova, 6-3, 6-4. Swiatek, for her part, was able to hold onto the break she earned during the 10-point rain reprieve and narrowly finished off her Czech opponent in what was ultimately a worthy sequel to their French Open final in June.

Simultaneously, three rain delayed matches started at once on different courts in order to accommodate the delayed schedule – somewhat of a shame given the excitement that each match-up promised individually earlier in the day.

Coco Gauff, out on Court 9, was brutally efficient to knock out Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, 6-3, 6-0, showing off both the technical and tactical adjustments she’s made to her game since her own disappointing first-round exit at Wimbledon last month.

Over on Rogers Court, No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina powered past Sloane Stephens despite needing a medical timeout midway through the second set to look at her right shoulder. It didn’t appear to cause too much of an issue, as the Kazakh dropped just one game following the timeout to advance 6-3, 6-3.

The night’s marquee match featured Canadian favourite Leylah Fernandez against on-fire qualifier Danielle Collins, who is always dangerous regardless of her ranking. Fernandez – and the Montreal crowd – got to experience that first-hand as the American was unstoppable from the baseline, stepping into all of her shots and taking time away from the Montreal native, as she’s used to doing herself against other opponents.

In a 6-2, 6-3 decision without facing a single break point in the match, Collins scored the win to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since Miami in 2022. Up next – Swiatek.