Montreal at a glance: Swiatek, Osaka, Keys feature in Round of 16

The players remaining in the bottom half of the draw combine past NBO quarter-finalists with those trying to break new ground.

Here’s a closer look at the four appetizing matches.

Iga Swiatek vs. Clara Tauson: Swiatek leads 2-0

Iga Swiatek only lost a combined eight games in her first two matches, but the Pole knows things are bound to get tougher. And in Clara Tauson, she meets the sort of power player who has troubled her in the past (think Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko and Aryna Sabalenka).

“That's going to be the first time I play a heavy hitter here, so I think I'll need to adjust to that, but when she plays in, she plays great,” said Swiatek, a Montreal semi-finalist in 2023.

On the way to the Wimbledon title in July, Swiatek downed the Dane in straight sets. Tauson, though, sizzled on hard courts to start 2025 – even topping World no. 1 Sabalenka – and in her two rounds in Montreal so far, has dropped even fewer games than Swiatek (6).

Naomi Osaka vs. Anastasija Sevastova: Osaka leads 3-2

Naomi Osaka and Anastasija Sevastova are two of the moms on tour and both had to rally to reach the fourth round. Osaka was in more danger, fending off a pair of match points on Liudmila Samsonova’s serve in the second round under new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

Sevastova trailed two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula by a set and break on Friday and before then, was down a break in the third set against Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round.

The 35-year-old Latvian is giving tennis one more go after a pair of recent comebacks. She returned after giving birth late in 2022 and then resurfaced in 2025 after an ACL injury that required two surgeries.

“This was really about coming back and showing that you can do it after a torn ACL. That was unfished business,” said Sevastova.

The time away explains her ranking of no. 386, having been as high as no. 11. Meanwhile, four-time Major winner Osaka is a former World No. 1.

Madison Keys vs. Karolina Muchova: Keys leads 1-0

A coffee aficionado, Madison Keys has found a few spots in Montreal. “I've been kind of hopping around from place to place,” said Keys. “I always really enjoy being able to do that. It's nice when we're in kind of more central cities where we can actually have lots of options.

“I'm quite picky myself because I personally think I make pretty good coffee at home. My standard is pretty high, but I've had some good coffee so far.”

The 30-year-old’s standard of tennis is also high. Keys bagged her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and knows how to go deep in Montreal, making the final in 2016.

Muchova so nearly won a Grand Slam, too, holding a break lead late in the third set against Swiatek in the 2023 French Open final.

The no. 14-ranked Czech, though, hasn’t played many matches in 2025 thanks to a left wrist injury and illness that forced her out of most of the clay swing.

Amanda Anisimova vs. Elina Svitolina: Svitolina leads 3-1

Statement sent. That’s one way to describe Amanda Anisimova at the NBO on Friday night. The Wimbledon finalist picked up her first win in three tries against 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, thumping 29 winners to five in the 6-2, 6-1 result.

That, coupled with her recent form and making the final last year in Toronto, suggests that the wins could keep coming for the 23-year-old.

Svitolina didn’t waste much time, either, on Friday night, dispatching Washington finalist Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-1.

The 2017 NBO champion does hold a winning record against Anisimova but their last meeting came in 2021. 

TennisFest Weekend wraps up 

Be sure to take advantage of all the activities happening on-site as part of TennisFest including a ‘Paint & Sip’ activity, an Oyster Happy Hour and a ‘Grill & Chill’ BBQ. 

Photo: Mathieu Bélanger