Montreal, September 13, 2010 – A deep field which includes three Top 30 players will battle for top honours this week at the Bell Challenge, a $220,000 WTA Tour event currently underway in Quebec City.
A pair of Frenchwomen, world no. 14 Marion Bartoli and world no. 20 Aravane Rezai, lead arguably the deepest field in tournament history, one which also bodes 2009 finalist Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic and four Canadians. In fact, Heidi El Tabakh (Oakville, ON) and Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) will face off in an all-Canadian first round encounter this evening at PEPS on the campus of Laval University with the winner slated to face Bartoli in round two. Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC) will play seventh-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus in her first round match while Valérie Tétreault (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) will go up against fourth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, the same player she beat in the first round last year in Quebec City.
Visit www.challengebell.com for all of the latest news and results from the Challenge Bell.
Canada set for Davis Cup battle with the Dominican Republic this weekend
The Miele Canadian Davis Cup team of Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON), Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON), Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) will take on the Dominican Republic this weekend in a Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group I second round play-off tie at the Rexall Centre in Toronto. The opening singles matches will be played on Friday beginning at 11 a.m. Tickets start as low as $10 and can be purchased by calling 1-877-2TENNIS. The tie will also be webcast live on www.lovemeansnothing.ca
Dubois, Tétreault and Marino head players list for Saguenay National Bank Challenger
The players list for the 2010 Saguenay National Bank Challenger to be held from September 18-26 was unveiled last week and a Canadian trio tops this year’s field which also includes a former champion and some former Top 50 players. Stéphanie Dubois, Valérie Tétreault, Heidi El Tabakh, Rebecca Marino, Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) and Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON) have all earned direct entry into the main draw. Meanwhile, Élisabeth Abanda (Montreal, QC), Katarena Paliivets (Richmond Hill, ON) and Ekaterina Shulaeva (Oakville, ON) have been awarded main draw wildcards by Tennis Canada.
This year’s players list also includes 2008 Saguenay champion Alexa Glatch of the United States, 2009 singles finalist and doubles champion Severine Beltrame of France who is also a former Top 50 player as is fellow entrant Marina Erakovic of New Zealand.
Brits dominate ITF wheelchair event in Montreal
Some of the world’s top wheelchair tennis players were at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal over the weekend to compete in the Tennis Canada International Championships, an ITF2 Series event. In the end, it was the Brits who dominated, sweeping the singles titles and exceling in doubles. World No. 16 Gordon Reid was crowned champion in men’s singles, World No. 9 Lucy Shuker won the women’s title and Jamie Burdekin claimed top honours in the quad division. The tournament’s top Canadian was Gary Luker (Stoney Creek, ON) who was a finalist in singles and doubles in the quad draws. Visit www.lovemeansnothing.ca for all of the final results.
Topics: Bell Canada, Bnp Paribas, Daniel Nestor, Davis Cup, Davis Cup Team, Frank Dancevic, Heidi El Tabakh, Laval Qc, Marion Bartoli, Olga Govortsova, Peps, Peter Polansky, Quebec City, Quebec Montreal, Rexall Centre, Safarova, Saguenay, St Jean Sur Richelieu, Vancouver Bc, Zone Group