Canadian Men Make Winning Start at World Team Cup

June 12, 2007

As the top-ranked men’s singles team in World Group 2, Canada defeated Greece 3-0 on Monday to kick off the Invacare World Team Cup in Stockholm, Sweden.

Saskatchewan’s Corey Blatchford gave his squad a 1-0 advantage after defeating Konstantinos Vazouras 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in the opening match. Lee Carter followed suit in the second match with a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Georgior Lazaridis to secure an insurmountable lead for Canada. Carter and Montreal’s Yann Mathieu finished things off in style, posting a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lazaridis and Vazouras to punch Canada’s ticket into the quarter-finals, continuing their quest toward attaining World Group 1 status. In the quarter-final round, the Canadian team will take on the winner of the tie between Israel and Denmark.

Meanwhile, the Canadian women’s singles team consisting of Helene Simard and Annie Morissette are seeded No. 8 in this year’s draw and will battle Brazil on Tuesday. Sarah Hunter and Adrian Dieleman will represent Canada as the seventh seeds in the quad division and are also scheduled to take the courts on Tuesday against the second ranked team from the Netherlands.

The Invacare World Team Cup is being staged for the first time in Sweden and promises to deliver a week of highly competitive and entertaining wheelchair tennis.