Tevlin Challenger Features Top Canadian Talent

As the professional tennis season comes to a close, the $50,000 Women’s Tevlin Challenger is being held in Toronto this week. One of the hopefuls for the title is Canada’s No. 1 ranked player, Rebecca Marino (Vancouver), who will be the top seed in the tournament as she seeks to extend her 15-match win streak and capture her fourth consecutive Challenger title. In
addition to Marino, the other seeded Canadians include No. 6 Valerie Tétreault (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) and No. 8 Heidi El Tabakh (Toronto).

International players joining these top Canadians include Americans Christina McHale, Alison Riske and Julia Cohen, Italy’s Corinna Dentoni, and Heather Watson of Great Britain. All but Watson (No. 209) rank inside the Top 200 on the WTA Tour. Marie-Eve Pelletier (Repentigny, Quebec) and Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa) will also appear in the main draw along with
Canadian wild cards Sharon Fichman (Toronto), Katarena Paliivets (Richmond Hill, Ontario), Kimberly-Ann Surin (Blainville, Quebec) and Carol Zhao (Richmond Hill, Ontario).

Marino will compete in her fourth consecutive ITF $50,000 after winning her previous three tournaments. The young Canadian defeated Riske in the final of the Saguenay Challenger just over a month ago and has yet to drop a match since, capturing the singles titles at Kansas City and Troy. Marino is currently sitting at No. 109 on in the WTA rankings after reaching a
career-high No. 108 last week.

Main draw singles and doubles action begins Monday after the conclusion of the qualifying rounds. Championship weekend at the Tevlin Challenger will be Web cast live via lovemeansnothing.ca beginning with semifinal action on Saturday, November 6 at 11 a.m., followed by the singles final live on Sunday at 12 p.m. The event takes place at the Tennis Canada Centre of Excellence, the indoor facility located beside the world-class Rexall Centre in Toronto. Admission is free. 

The Tevlin Challenger was founded by Tennis Matters benefactors Michael and Nicole Tevlin of Toronto as part of a generous high performance pledge. This year marks the sixth edition of the tournament and its third at the $50,00 prize money level.

Tournament information such as draws, results and order of play can be found at LoveMeansNothing.ca