Ariana Arseneault will once again be the favourite for the winner’s circle following her maiden ITF singles title last week in Trois-Rivières.
The top seed is part of a young Canadian field at the W15 Victoriaville. Arseneault’s half of the draw features four teens, including National Tennis Centre presented by Rogers member Andrea Taylor, who opens the event against eighth-seed Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil.
Arseneault could meet two of those teens in the earlier rounds; 17-year-old Isabella Marton in the second round then 16-year-old Catherine Xie in the quarters if all are unbeaten.
Sixth-seed Ana Grubor leads the host nation’s contingent in the bottom half. The first round has an all-Canadian teenage clash as the NTC’s Nadia Lagaev faces off against Andrea Cabio. The winner will play either No. 2 seed Esther Adeshina of Great Britain or fellow Canuck Rita Colyer.
All seeds in the doubles draw have at least one Canadian as part of the duo. New Westminster-native Alexandra Vagramov – who is the No. 5 seed in singles – and teammate Adeshina make up the top seeds. Vagramov was the doubles champion in Trois-Rivières alongside Dasha Ivanova.
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No. 2 seeds Lagaev and American Thea Frodin are already off to a winning start, beating Canadian teens Kalyna Nichita and Anissa Saada in straight sets.
Third-seeds Abigeyle Bhopal of Canada and Athina Schlepphorst of Great Britain will open against Canadians Laurence Demers and Taylor. Emy Gauvin and 15-year-old Éve Thibault – the youngest player in the Victoriaville singles and doubles draw – await the winner in the second round after winning their opening match in straights.
M15 Montreal
A few teens will also be looking to make their mark at the M15 Montreal. Benjamin Azar is the youngest Canadian in the singles draw, attempting to upset third-seed Andrew Fenty of the USA in round one.
Volodymyr Gurenko and Adam Farag-Cao both received main-draw wildcards. Gurenko meets Brazilian Joao Victor Couto Loureiro in the first round, while Farag-Cao awaits a qualifier.
Three Canadians remain in qualifying with two meeting in the final round as the NTC’s Antoine Généreux and Jared Horwood battle for a place in the main draw. Cadence Benchetrit clashes with qualifying second-seed Reece Falck of New Zealand.
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Dan Martin, who was the top seed in Sherbrooke, is the second seed behind top-seeded American Tyler Zink.
Canadian Nicaise Muamba will try to get another crack at a doubles title after him and his partner Rares Teodor Pieleanu fell short in the Sherbrooke final. The No. 4 seeds play American Henry Barrett and Sherbrooke doubles champion Oliver Okonkwo in round one.
Feature Photo: Tim Austen
