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For these Canadians trying to get their clay-court seasons off on the suitable foot on the Madrid Open this week, the primary mixed 1000 occasion on the grime might not have been what they had been on the lookout for.
Madrid has all the time had a few of the trickier circumstances in the course of the clay swing and it brought on issues for the Canadians final week. Or at the least it brought on quite a lot of issues in singles.
Right here’s what it’s good to know:
In Case You Missed It: Week One Wash
The 2023 Madrid Open is one to neglect in the case of Canadians and singles because the six Canadians went a mixed 2-6 in important draw play, with 4 dropping their opening matches.
Rebecca Marino and Eugenie Bouchard each managed to win their first-round matches earlier than bowing out in spherical two. Bouchard had come through qualifying to enter her first WTA 1000 important draw on clay since 2017.
Leylah Annie Fernandez was stunned in round one by a 15-year-old, though that defeat has since been redeemed since her conqueror, Mirra Andreeva, went on to achieve the fourth spherical.
Learn additionally: Bouchard makes winning return on clay
Bianca Andreescu made her return to the tour however ran out of gas in her opening match. She, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov all had first-round byes however misplaced three-setters in spherical two.
Regardless of all of the singles disappointments, the doubles was way more forgiving as all 4 Canadians competing reached the quarter-finals.
Group Shauger, Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime, reunited and reached their second Masters 1000 quarter-final of 2023 with a pair of straight-set wins, together with a round-two upset of sixth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.
Whereas the boys are taking part in collectively, the Canadian ladies give the nation two separate photographs on the title.
Gabriela Dabrowski and her Brazilian associate Luisa Stefani, seeded seventh in Madrid, are by to the final eight after surviving a first-round scare earlier than beating the Andreeva sisters in spherical two.
Fernandez’s sturdy run of doubles type with Taylor Townsend carried throughout the pond because the Miami runners-up additionally discover themselves within the final eight after upsetting the second seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok within the first spherical.
For the second yr in a row, a participant from an Arab nation is making a run in Madrid on the ladies’s aspect as Mayar Sherif, who had solely ever superior previous the primary spherical of a WTA 1000 occasion as soon as in eight earlier appearances together with seven consecutive first-round losses, reached her first quarter-final having crushed world No. 5 Caroline Garcia in spherical three and 24th seed Elise Mertens within the final sixteen.
Learn additionally: Nadal, Djokovic battling to compete at Roland-Garros
Casper Ruud’s nightmare of a season continued with an opening-match loss to 105th-ranked qualifier Matteo Arnaldi. One in every of Borna Coric, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Jaume Munar or Daniel Altmaier will make the semifinals out of that quarter after Holger Rune and Hubert Hurkacz had been additionally upset.
What to Watch: Highlight on Doubles
Madrid motion continues this week and for the Canadians, it’s all in regards to the doubles with three pairs within the quarter-finals.
Gabriela Dabrowski has the hardest draw as she and Luisa Stefani will face prime seeds Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff for a spot within the semifinals.
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov should not have it a lot simpler as they face fourth-seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, though ought to they pull the upset they might face an unseeded pair within the semifinals.
Leylah Annie Fernandez is the lone Canadian with no seeded opponent within the quarter-finals. She and Taylor Townsend will face Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova within the final eight and, like Group Shauger, are assured a non-seeded opponent ought to they attain the ultimate 4.
Learn additionally: Felix keeps it classy
Dabrowski and Fernandez are on reverse halves of the draw, so an all-Canadian ultimate is a chance.
In singles, a lot of the favourites are nonetheless alive together with prime seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek. Alcaraz has a rematch of the 2022 ultimate with Alexander Zverev within the quarters.
4 of the highest 5 seeds are nonetheless in on the boys’s aspect: Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Monte-Carlo champion Andrey Rublev. Solely three of the highest 5 are nonetheless alive on the ladies’s aspect, though seven of the eight quarter-final spots belong to seeds.
Below the Radar: Martin Saves the Day
It was not all doom and gloom for Canadian singles gamers throughout the tennis world final week as Dan Martin picked up an ITF M15 title in Vero Seashore, Florida final week, the primary of his profession on the ITF circuit.
Martin didn’t drop a set on his solution to the ultimate, together with an upset of second seed Andres Andrade within the quarter-finals, earlier than edging American Jaycer Lyeons in a good three-setter to assert the title.
This week, Gabriel Diallo makes a visit to the far east on the ATP Challenger Tour.
You may comply with the Canadians in motion each week here.
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