Heavy Canadian Presence at ITF Event in Saskatoon

Photo : Gyles Dias/Tennis Canada

The host nation will be well represented as the ITF Tour makes another stop in Canada this week, this time in the middle of the nation at an ITF W35 event in Saskatoon.

Half of the singles draw is Canadian, with 16 of the 32 players including three seeds hailing from the host country.

Stacey Fung is the top seed in Saskatoon and faces American qualifier Patsy Daughters in the first round. She could meet 16-year-old Clemence Mercier in the round two. The Canadian teen made it all the way to the semifinals of the W15 event in Brossard back in March.

The other seeded Canadians are No. 3 Kayla Cross and No. 6 Isabelle Boulais. All three Canadian seeds are in the top half of the draw.

Cross reached the final at the W75 event in Granby last month and opens her campaign against Nadia Lagaev, a wildcard who is currently the highest-ranked Canadian on the ITF junior tour. Lagaev received a wildcard into Saskatoon.

Boulais will start against American Brandy Walker. She could meet Fung in the quarter-finals and Cross in the semis.

Two names to keep an eye on in the Saskatoon draw are Ariana Arseneault and Mia Kupres. The pair reached the quarter-finals of the doubles at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open earlier in August after winning the title in Granby in July.

This week in Saskatoon singles, Arseneault opens against American Jenna Dean and could face No. 7 seed Jada Robinson, also of the United States, in the second round. She is in Cross’ quarter. Kupres starts against American Maribella Zamarripa and could meet No. 2 seed Hiroko Kuwata of Japan in the second round.

Absent from the Saskatoon event is two-time defending champion Victoria Mboko, who played last week at an ITF event on clay in Serbia.

There are three all-Canadian matchups in the first round: Cross against Lagaev, an all-teen affair between Emma Dong and Catherine Gagnon, and Winnie Wing Yee Choi taking on Alexia Jacobs.

Written By

Pete Borkowski