
Photo : Martin Sidorjak
It seems you can always count on Gabriela Dabrowski and Rob Shaw to save the day for Canada at a Grand Slam event. Just like in 2024, the doubles specialist and the wheelchair star are the last Canadians standing at the Australian Open.
While Canada’s singles players played some solid tennis, it was not enough for any of them to reach the second week of the year’s first major.
Meanwhile on the ITF tour, a pair of Canadians are off to a flying start in 2025.
Here’s what you need to know.
In Case You Missed It: Canadians Crash Out in Singles
By Jonathan Chan
Gabriela Dabrowski is the only Canadian remaining at the Australian Open.
She and Erin Routliffe advanced to the quarter-finals with a hard-fought win over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegemund 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. The pair have come back from down a set in each of their three wins in the tournament. The reigning WTA Finals champions will take on Miyu Kato and Renata Zarazua in the quarters.
The five Canadians in the singles draw fell early in the season’s first Grand Slam.
Leylah Annie Fernandez found the most success in Melbourne Park, winning her first match against Yuliia Starodubtseva 7-5, 6-4 and her second-round match against Cristina Bucsa 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Her run would end in the third round as she fell to No. 3 Coco Gauff, one of the tournament favourites, 6-4, 6-2.
Read also: WTA Power Rankings – Sabalenka Eyeing Three-Peat at Australian Open
Despite the early exit, it was the most successful Australian Open of Fernandez’s career, as she reached the third round for the first time in six entries.
Rebecca Marino was the only other Canadian in the women’s draw but dropped her first-round match to the 22nd seed Katie Boulter 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Things did not go better for the Canadians on the men’s side.
Félix Auger-Aliassime rode into the Australian Open on a high, taking a five-match win streak into the tournament after winning the Adelaide International. Unfortunately for the Montreal native, he was bounced in the second round by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Auger-Aliassime went up two sets to love but could not put away the Spaniard, who stormed back to take the match 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
Read also: ATP Power Rankings – Sinner Looks to Stay Dominant at Australian Open
Denis Shapovalov beat veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (8) in his first-round match but was unable to overcome a tough draw, falling to 2024 Olympic bronze medallist and No. 16 seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(3), 7-6(6), 6-2.
Gabriel Diallo faced a familiar foe in his second-round matchup but was beaten by No. 19 Karen Khachanov for the third time in six months 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Fernandez saw her stay in Melbourne end on Sunday night after she and partner Nadiia Kichenok lost their third-round doubles match 6-3, 6-0 to Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.
Dabrowski’s mixed doubles campaign came to an end early as she and Sander Gille of Belgium lost in round one. Vasek Pospisil was supposed to play doubles with Australia’s Jordan Thompson but the Aussie injured his foot playing singles and the pair were forced to withdraw.
Click here for more news and results from the ATP and WTA Tours.
What to Watch: Shaw Joins Dabrowski in Melbourne
By Pete Borkowski
Only two Canadians will be gracing the courts of Melbourne Park during the second week of the Australian Open.
Gabriela Dabrowski plays her quarter-final with Erin Routliffe against Miyu Kato and Renata Zarazua on Tuesday. They could meet No. 3 seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals. It would be a rematch in Melbourne for the Canadian-Kiwi pair and Ostapenko, as the Latvian and her then-partner Lyudmyla Kichenok knocked Dabrowski and Routliffe out in the semifinals last year.
Top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, who beat Dabrowski and Routliffe in last year’s Wimbledon final but were beaten by them in the final of the WTA Finals, loom as the likely finals opponent.
Read also: Dabrowski Opens Up About her Breast Cancer Journey
Rob Shaw joins the fray this week in Melbourne as the lone Canadian in the wheelchair events, but the draw gods have not been kind to the nation’s top wheelchair tennis player. In quad singles, he will face the world No. 2 Niels Vink in the first round.
Vink leads their head-to-head 8-2, including a victory last week at the Melbourne Wheelchair Open. The Dutchman also beat Shaw at the Paralympics and Roland-Garros in 2024.
In doubles, the Canadian will team up with regular partner Heath Davidson. They will open against Diego Perez and David Wagner and could face the second-seeded team of Andy Lapthorne and Sam Schroder in the semifinals.
Shaw and Davidson have reached the final of both tournaments they have played so far in 2025 but have yet to get their hands on a champion’s trophy. Last week at the ITF Melbourne Open, they lost in the title match to Guy Sasson and Vink, who are the top seeds this week at the Australian Open.
Under the Radar: Mboko, Aguilar Double-Up
Four more trophies were added to Canada’s 2025 haul courtesy of two players, both of whom have already claimed hardware this year.
Victoria Mboko is off to a flying start this year, claiming the singles and doubles titles at an ITF event for the second week in a row, this week in Petit-Bourg, Guadaloupe.
In singles, she was even more dominant than the previous week. She once again did not drop a set on her way to the title but this time never lost more than four games in a set and the most games she lost in an entire match, her semifinal against Hina Inoue, was just six. She capped off the run with a 6-4, 6-0 win in the final over American Clervie Ngounoue.

Mboko teamed up with Ngounoue to win the doubles. The pair only needed to win two matches as they had a first-round bye and got a walkover in the quarter-finals. They needed three sets in the semis but blew away Jenna Dean and Amanda Carolina Nava Elkin 6-3, 6-1 in the final to claim the title.
Across both disciplines, Mboko is 15-0 so far in 2025 and has only dropped two sets, both in doubles.
Juan Carlos Aguilar was also a champion last week but upped this game this week, following Mboko’s lead by winning both the singles and doubles titles at the ITF event in Kingston, Jamaica.
The singles title was his first as a professional. He got past fellow Canadian Benjamin Thomas George in the second round before winning back-to-back three setters to reach the final. There he defeated American Andres Martin 7-5, 6-2 to claim the title.

He won his second doubles title in as many weeks alongside Kody Pearson of Australia. The pair had a first-round bye and did not drop a set the rest of the way, capping of the win with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over Raul Garcia and Miguel Tobon. It is the 15th doubles title of Aguilar’s career.
Alexis Galarneau is building some momentum ahead of Canada’s upcoming Davis Cup tie in Montreal. The Lavallois reached his first semifinal of the season on the ATP Challenger Tour in Oeiras, Portugal, falling in three sets to the top seed and eventual champion Aleksandar Kovacevic.
This week, Rebecca Marino will look to carry her level from Melbourne to Karnataka, India, where she is competing in an ITF W100 event.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
Tickets for the Davis Cup Qualifiers 1st Round tie between Canada and Hungary are now on sale. Join us February 1 and 2 at IGA Stadium in Montreal, as the Canadian team begins their quest for the 2025 Davis Cup Final 8. To access tickets at early-bird pricing, click here.