Canada's Kayla Cross falls to Kamilla Rakhimova in first round at NBO

Kayla Cross, of Canada, tracks the ball during her first round match against Kamilla Rakhimova, of Russia, at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Monday, July 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Canada鈥檚 Kayla Cross and Ariana Arseneault are out of the National Bank Open after the first round.

Cross let a one-set lead slip away in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia on Monday afternoon.

The 20-year-old from London, Ont., who鈥檚 ranked 151st in the world, fell to the 62nd-ranked Rakhimova in one hour 55 minutes on the hard court at IGA Stadium. It was their first career meeting on the WTA Tour.

Rakhimova will face Ukraine鈥檚 Elina Svitolina, the 10th seed, in the second round. The top 32 seeds received a first-round bye at the WTA 1000 tournament.

Later in the afternoon, Arseneault of Richmond Hill, Ont., lost 6-4, 6-2 to Japan鈥檚 Naomi Osaka.

Osaka, a former world No. 1, meets Russia's Liudmila Samsonova in the next round.

In the evening, local favourite Eugenie Bouchard will begin her final run in professional tennis against Colombia鈥檚 Emiliana Arango. The 31-year-old Bouchard, a former world No. 5, recently announced she would retire after her hometown event.

Carson Branstine, who grew up in California but represents Canada through family ties in Toronto, takes on Greece鈥檚 Maria Sakkari in the final match of the night.

Toronto's Victoria Mboko, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Vancouver's Rebecca Marino advanced to the second round with wins Sunday.

Andreescu's status for the remainder of the tournament is unclear after hurting her left ankle on match point Sunday night against Czechia's Barbora Krejcikova.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025.

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