WTA Canadian Open: Brit Katie Boulter beaten by Aryna Sabalenka, US Open champion Coco Gauff stunned by Diana Shnaider

Katie Boulter's run at the Canadian Open came to an end at the hands of world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in Toronto. The British No. 1 made the two-time Grand Slam winner toil at times, but Sabalenka's class shone through in the end. Meanwhile, Coco Gauff was on the receiving end of a surprise defeat to Diana Shnaider. It comes after her loss to Donna Vekic at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

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Katie Boulter bowed out in the last 16 of the Canadian Open with a straight-sets defeat to Aryna Sabalenka.

The world No. 3 prevailed with a 6-3 6-3 win, and will now face Amanda Anisimova in the quarter-finals.

Boulter fought well in the opening exchanges, and even had a chance to break Sabalenka in the opening game before the Belarusian took a hard-fought hold.

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However, the turning point came in the sixth game when Boulter was emphatically broken to love to give Sabalenka a 4-2 lead.

The two-time Grand Slam champion drew first blood after her third set point at 6-3.

The British No. 1 acquitted herself well again at the start of the second, as two more break points went by the wayside to make Sabalenka work hard to hold her serve at 1-1.

Boulter was left to rue those opportunities, as Sabalenka broke through her serve to take a 3-2 lead. She broke the Brit for a third and final time to win the contest on her first match point.

Gauff stunned by Shnaider

Elsewhere, Coco Gauff was on the receiving end of an upset after being stunned by Diana Shnaider, who secured a 6-4 6-1 win over the reigning US Open champion.

Shnaider completed the job in a mere one hour and 11 minutes to claim the first-ever win against a top-10 opponent. Her reward is a last-eight clash against Liudmila Samsonova.

There was very little separating the pair for much of the opening set, with both players looking impenetrable in their service games.

The 10th and final game of the opener very much went against the script in that sense, as Shnaider had three set points after motoring into a 40-0 lead.

Gauff swatted away two of those, before the 20-year-old progressed on the third.

And while the first set may have been cagey, the second set and match was sealed in dominant fashion by the Russian.

Gauff was straining every sinew to keep hold of her serve at times, with her resistance ending after a fourth break point to move Shnaider 3-1 ahead.

She broke Gauff again more emphatically - this time to love - to take a 5-1 lead before serving out the match with relative ease at 6-1.

After what had been a gruelling and emotionally draining appearance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the world No. 2 admits she had doubts about competing in Toronto.

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"Sometimes I question whether I should have played or not," Gauff said in quotes published by wtatennis.com.

"But at the end of the day I wanted to test myself and see if I would be able to, how I would do, being mentally tired a little bit and physically fatigued.

"I said going into the tournament I didn't have high expectations, but I wish I could have competed better today, even if it resulted in a loss. I don't think I competed well."

Both Sabalenka and Shnaider will be back in action on Saturday, with Americans making up five of the six other players in the draw.

Meanwhile, much of the men's side of the Canadian Open was washed out on Friday. Not a single match was completed in Montreal before the rain arrived.

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