Shahar crushed by hometown wild-card in Toronto

Peer: This is one of the worst matches I have played. I came here from Washington feeling good, I just didn’t play well today.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Shahar Peer 311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Shahar Pe’er has suffered her fair share of humbling defeats this year, but none was more embarrassing than Tuesday’s 6-1, 6-0 loss to Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
The 24-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 23 in the world, desperately struggled against the Canadian wild-card, ranked No. 150, winning just 22 of 76 points before being sent packing after a mere 43 minutes.
“This is one of the worst matches I have played,” said Pe’er, who came into the tournament brimming with confidence after reaching the final in Washington last week.
“I came here from Washington feeling good, I just didn’t play well today.”
Pe’er will hope to bounce back from Tuesday’s painful defeat when she plays in Cincinnati next week in her final tournament before the start of the US Open on August 29.
Meanwhile, world No. 2 Kim Clijsters withdrew from her opening match at the Toronto Cup with a partial tear of her left stomach muscle, casting doubt on whether she will be fit for the US Open.
“During the match it just felt like it went worse,” the four-time grand slam winner told reporters after the match.
“I already had an ultrasound here on site and I have a partial tear in my left stomach muscle and a little bit of blood.”
The 28-year-old Belgian, who retired while leading 6-3, 1-2 against Chinese qualifier Zheng Jie said it was too soon to rule her out for the year’s final grand slam.
“No, not yet,” said Clijsters, who won the US Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010. “I still have a few weeks until then so will try to do everything to obviously be ready.”
Also Tuesday, Andy Murray’s Montreal Masters title defense came to a shock end when the world No. 4 was swept aside 6-3, 6-1 in his opening match by South African Kevin Anderson.
It was a stunning failure by the Briton who has absolutely ruled over the Canadian hard courts the last two seasons, winning back-to-back titles while reaching the last four on two other occasions posting an 18-3 record.
Playing his first event since a semifinal loss to Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon, a lethargic Murray displayed plenty of rust and surprisingly little interest as the towering Anderson breezed to victory in just 69 minutes ending his two year reign as champion.
Murray was at a loss to explain his miserable display having prepared in much the same way he has the past two years when he ended the week lifting the trophy.
“Sometimes you make mistakes with your preparation but I’ve done pretty similar stuff that I always do coming here,” a mystified Murray told reporters. “It’s just really a bad day.”
Reuters contributed to this report.