She is the kind of player who can beat anyone when she's on (beat Sabalenka and Rybakina this year).
I knew that before this match started.
I have no doubt Iga will figure out Canada one day though.
I actually thought Iga didn't play that bad overall certainly created plenty of chances for herself but was only able to take advantage of one (1 for 8 on breakpoints).
Hard to win a match if you don't win the important points.
Tauson did exactly that.
And luck seemed to be on her side as well when it came to deep shots just touching the baseline without going out.
Interestingly Iga did have more winners than Tauson and 8 aces which is good to see (she's averaging more aces per match than ever before).
I think the lighter balls and conditions made things quite different especially in the day vs night. Wonder if the unforced errors would have been less had she been playing in hot conditions with less wind.
Had Iga won that first set tiebreak it might have been different match. But her tiebreak record this year hasn't been great (something I'm sure she'll work on and improve before the season ends).
There's a lot of debate as per usual in terms of Iga going back to old habits on hardcourts with going for shots too early and overhitting the ball instead of being patient and working the point in a rally and there may be some truth to that (Iga herself admitted in post match that she started doing what she was doing in March).
But it must also be taken under account that unlike a lot of the players left in the Montreal draw Iga made it all the way to the final at Wimbledon (and in her grass warm up tournament).
So it's simply going to take her more than one tournament to find her rhythm on hard so I'm not worried. I could tell she was still finding her groove even when the score line said otherwise in some matches here in Montreal.
The fact that Iga is aware of the things she was doing wrong is good, it gives her and Wim a good idea of what to work on and try to improve for Cincinnati.
Which will of course bring it's own different challenges, it being one of the fastest and according to a lot of players low bouncing courts.
Honestly after Iga won on the grass of Wimbledon, her worst surface a loss like this doesn't seem at all bad.
She has shown the level is definitely there and with work, and practice things will also click back into gear for her on this surface too.
It may not happen in Cincy do to the aforementioned speed, but it will not surprise me if things click again at U.S. Open a match slower surface.
Sure it would have been nice had Iga won the title (would have gone back to world #2 thus avoiding meeting Saba in the semis of the U.S. Open). But as in all sport sometimes it's just not your day.
Time for Iga to catch her breath and rest a bit before the next long stretch of play.
On to the next one, Jazda!.
I meanwhile will be cheering on Naomi Osaka who'll be playing Elena Svitolina tomorrow. Should be a wonderful contest.
Dumping Patrick Mouratoglou has breathed new life into Naomi's game, and Iga's ex coach Tomasz Wiktorowski's calming influence is already visible.
Although it'll take me a while to get used to him sitting in Naomi's box I'm beyond glad it's having a positive effect.
She really needed it to boost her confidence and believe in her game because it's still one of the best especially on a hard court.
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