Marino and Raonic set to make grand slam debuts at the U.S Open

The best juniors in the world will converge on Repentigny this week

Two of Canada’s rising young stars will experience the biggest moment of their professional careers on Monday when they take to the court for their first Grand Slam main draw match at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON), both 19 years of age, won three tough qualifying matches over the weekend to earn a coveted spot in the main draw of the final Grand Slam of the season. Marino beat fellow Canadian Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON) in the final round on Sunday and will take on Ksenia Pervak of Russia, ranked no. 100 in the world, in her Major debut. For his part, Raonic continued his impressive summer and beat three quality players en route to a main draw berth. He will take on Australia’s Carsten Ball, ranked no. 145 on the ATP rankings. Not to be outdone, Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON) was the third Canadian to successfully qualify for the U.S. Open main draw and in doing so for the second consecutive year, he earned the right to play Argentine Juan Monaco, seeded 30th in the tournament, in his first round match on Tuesday. This marks the first time this season that a Canadian man will play in the main draw of a Grand Slam and the first time since last year’s Australian Open that there will be two men taking part in the big dance.

Meanwhile, Canada’s top player, Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) will also begin her U.S. Open campaign on Monday against Australian qualifier Sally Peers, ranked no. 201 in the world. Recovering from forearm tendinitis, Wozniak hopes to repeat her performance from a year ago when she reached the third round in New York and defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the process.

Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON), Marie-Ève Pelletier (Repentigny, QC) and Wozniak will be Canada’s three representatives in doubles at the final Major of 2010. Seeded second in the men’s draw, Nestor and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic will go up against Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Roger in their first round encounter. For her part, Pelletier will be testing the waters with a new partner this week in Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands. The pair will open against the thirteenth-seeded team of Monica Niculescu and Shahar Peer.

Wozniak will team up with Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze and they will battle the Swedish duo of Sofia Arvidsson and Johanna Larsson.

Top juniors head to Repentigny for prestigious event The best junior players in the world are in Repentigny this week to make their final U.S. Open preparations this week at the National Bank Canadian International Junior Open, a prestigious Grade 1 event on the ITF Junior Circuit which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2010. 

Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON), Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC), Élisabeth and Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC) and Filip Peliwo (Vancouver, BC) are just a few of the

Canadian names who will go head-tohead with the world’s best at the biggest junior tournament in Canada.

The ladies will take centre stage on Monday at Parc Larochelle with singles and doubles action in the girls draws while the boys will take their turn on Tuesday. For all of the latest results, please visit the tournament’s official website www.tennis-junior-repentigny.com