Ariana Arseneault had a strong start to her Road to the NBO campaign. The 24-year-old from Richmond Hill earned 20 points courtesy of her semifinal finish at the W50 Quebec City. The world No. 352 also reached the doubles final alongside countrywoman Raphaëlle Lacasse.
Arseneault was one of three Canadians to get past the first round in singles after upsetting second seed Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania 6-1, 6-1. The Richmond Hillian was joined by Francoise Abanda, who stunned top seed Katherine Sebov, and third seed Cadence Brace.
However, Arseneault was the lone Canuck to string together multiple wins in the Quebec capital. The 24-year-old won her next two matches in straights, beating eighth seed Ayana Akli of the United States to punch her ticket to the semifinals. There, Arseneault’s run came to an end to Mimi Xu of Great Britain.
Fourth seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson went on to defeat Xu 6-4, 6-2 in the final to hoist the trophy, the Swede’s first of the season.
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Arseneault did compete for the title in doubles, though. She and Lacasse cruised through their opening two matches, conceding nine games over that span. Then, in the semis, the top seeds were forced into a match tiebreaker against the Japanese pair of Hiromi Abe and Kisa Yoshioka but managed to secure a place in the final.
Arseneault and Lacasse had to come back from a set down in the title match, winning a tight second-set tiebreaker against Reese Brantmeier and Xu to force a decider. Unfortunately for the Canadians, their comeback bid fell short, losing 6-2, 6-7(5), 10-7 to the American-British duo.
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Feature Photo: Morgan Givens/Wick Photography
