Four Canadians through to round two at Tevlin Challenger

Tennis Canada

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

Tennis CanadaEugenie Bouchard was among four Canadians who advanced to the second round at the $50,000 Tevlin Challenger in Toronto on Wednesday, as she eliminated No. 3 seed Alexa Glatch in straight sets. 

Also victorious in their opening matches at the Rexall Centre’s Centre of Excellence were Carol Zhao, Gabriela Dabrowski, and Marie-Eve Pelletier. 

Bouchard took charge in her match against Glatch immediately, and never really gave the American any opportunity to get back into it. Glatch held serve just once in the 6-0, 6-2 drubbing. 

“I definitely started really well,” Bouchard said. “I was going for my serves and my serve was really working well today. I was being aggressive out there and in the points, I was just trying to dominate the rallies and control the point.” 

Zhao, who netted her first professional victory at this tournament a year ago en route to the quarter-finals,  opened the day with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat over fellow 16 year-old Canadian Erin Routliffe. An even match through six games, Zhao grabbed the first break of serve and then battled through a difficult serving game to consolidate. The more composed player, she controlled the match from then on. 

“I don’t think either of us played our best, but I was able to pull through on the tough moments,” Zhao said. “She had a really big serve, and she was hitting it really well in the beginning, but as the match went on I started to deal with it a little bit better so I think that was one of the differences.” 

Dabrowski was solid in a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 2010 Tevlin Challenger finalist Alize Lim of France, and Pelletier advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win against American qualifier Diana Ospina. On the opposite side was Elisabeth Abanda, who fell 6-4, 6-3 to Croatian Maria Abramovic. 

No. 6 seed Hungarian Timea Babos also reached the second round, while both No. 4 Julia Cohen of the United States and No. 7 Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal dropped their opening matches. 

In the next round, Bouchard will take on her doubles partner, American Amanda Fink, while Zhao will challenge No. 2 seed Mandy Minella of Luxembourg. Dabrowski will play against French lucky loser Celine Cattaneo, and Pelletier will battle another qualifier in Swiss player Amra Sadikovic. 

Dabrowski and Pelletier also advanced to the doubles semifinals via walkover, and will face the No. 1-seeded team of Sharon Fichman and Sheng-Nan Sun, who also were recipients of a free pass into the final four. In the bottom half of the draw, Bouchard and Fink moved past Zhao and Routliffe 6-2, 6-2 and will play Babos and Jessica Pegula for a spot in the final. 

Play resumes Thursday at 10 a.m. Admission is free.

Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*