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Week one of many Australian Open is nearly within the books and solely two Canadians are nonetheless standing at Melbourne Park: Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski.
Extra will be part of the fray subsequent week, however extra on that later.
It was a difficult first week for the Canadians on the 12 months’s first main, with loads of highs and lows. From dramatic marathons to battles on Rod Laver Area to comparatively straight-forward wins, the Canadian tennis expertise in Melbourne has coated lots of floor.
Auger-Aliassime Discovering His Groove
Between unhealthy attracts and accidents, Canada’s singles prospects didn’t look nice heading into the primary Grand Slam of the 12 months. However a minimum of one man continues to be giving the nation motive to cheer.
2023 was a 12 months to overlook for Felix Auger-Aliassime and 2024 didn’t get off to an ideal begin both as he recovered from a knee damage. After which the draw spat him out towards a former Grand Slam champion Dominic Thiem and it seemed just like the fates had it in for the Montrealer.
Not so quick.
Whereas it was hardly a dominant efficiency, Auger-Aliassime’s victory over Thiem in 4 hours and 59 minutes was nonethless spectacular. Certain, a straight-set win would have been preferable after the Canadian took the primary two units, however holding off a participant of Thiem’s calibre demonstrated a degree of grit and perseverance that may be powerful to search out given all the pieces Auger-Aliassime has skilled over the past 12 months.
When he misplaced the third and fourth units, it could not have been all that shocking to see the 23-year-old fold. In spite of everything, he had misplaced from two units up in Melbourne in each 2021 and 2022 and was in higher form and kind on these events. However Auger-Aliassime was not concerned with shedding from that place once more.
No matter what occurs subsequent, that match was an enormous step in the appropriate course for the four-time ATP Tour titlist.
In fact, he isn’t really completed. He adopted that up with a powerful exhibiting towards Hugo Grenier, the place he did drop the second set however received the opposite three with the lack of simply 4 video games.
Learn additionally: Australian Open Men’s Power Rankings
Subsequent up although shall be a well-recognized foe: Daniil Medvedev. The 2021 US Open champion is 6-0 towards the Canadian, together with a type of gutting Melbourne losses from two units up within the 2022 quarter-finals.
If Auger-Aliassime can flip the tide right here, the nightmares of 2023 would fade even father into the rearview mirror.
From Unhealthy Luck to Unhealthy Attracts
Auger-Aliassime is the lone Canadian left within the singles draw, with the opposite 4 having fallen in week one.
Leylah Annie Fernandez additionally managed to get out of the primary spherical with an impressive victory over Sara Bejlek. She then appeared poised to go one other spherical additional when she led her spherical two match with Alycia Parks 5-2, however that’s the place issues fell aside.
Full credit score should go to the big-hitting American, who took the racket out of Fernandez’s arms within the final set and a half. Parks was going for broke at each alternative and simply couldn’t appear to overlook. Irrespective of how fast the Canadian was, she couldn’t cowl the court docket quick sufficient to achieve her all of her opponent’s large pictures.
The ultimate outcome was a surprising straight-set loss for the Canadian. Fernandez nonetheless has but to get previous the second spherical in Melbourne.
The opposite three Canadians in singles went out in spherical one.
Milos Raonic was the sufferer of his physique as soon as once more, though the draw he was handed was additionally brutal. He needed to face off towards world No. 10 Alex de Minaur, together with the partisan Melbourne crowd supporting their dwelling favorite.
Nonetheless, the Missile did his factor on serve and took the opening set. However from there, his physique started to betray him. Mixed with de Minaur’s means to increase rallies, it was not a state of affairs that Raonic might get by way of. He was compelled to retire with an damage within the third set.
Rebecca Marino had the harshest draw of any Canadian, dealing with off with fifth seed Jessica Pegula. She hardly went away quietly, however the big-serving Canadian struggled to place a dent within the American’s armour and fell in straight units.
Like Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov had a troublesome 2023 and got here in with much more rust. The Canadian No. 2 was nonetheless shaking it off in his first-round match towards Jakub Mensik and the younger Czech took benefit, edging him in three tight units.
Dabrowski Appears for One other Slam
Heading into the 2024 Australian Open, it might have been honest to say that Canada’s finest shot at a title got here within the ladies’s doubles, the place Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe need to win their second main in a row following their US Open triumph final September.
Seeded fourth, the Canadian-Kiwi duo received by way of their opening match with relative ease, taking down Linda Fruhvirtova and Ashlyn Krueger in straight units 6-1, 7-5. They then turned the primary workforce to achieve the third spherical when their subsequent opponents, Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, withdrew.
The pair might need a little bit of a wait earlier than their subsequent match, which may very well be towards the 16th seeds Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya. Dabrowski and Routliffe are in the identical quarter as eighth seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Taylor Townsend. The US Open champions are the best seeds left within the high half of the draw after Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula withdrew.
Learn additionally: Australian Open Women’s Power Rankings
Dabrowski’s finest outcome on the Australian Open in ladies’s doubles is the quarter-finals, which she has achieved twice. However she received the blended doubles title in 2018. She and accomplice Nathaniel Lammons cruised by way of their first-round blended doubles match earlier on Friday in straight units. They’re seeded sixth.
Wheelchair and Junior
Much more competitions have but to start on the Australian Open, specifically the wheelchair and junior occasions, and Canada may have gamers aiming to raise the trophies.
Rob Shaw will as soon as once more symbolize his nation on the Australian Open. Melbourne stays the lone main the place he has by no means reached the doubles last. In 2023, he and accomplice Heath Davidson misplaced to the eventual champions Sam Schroder and Niels Vink within the semis.
He’s coming off a powerful season the place he reached two main finals, at the French Open and at Wimbledon. The 34-year-old quad athlete completed 2023 robust with a silver medal performance at the Parapan Am Games in Santiago. Shaw additionally reached his career-high rating in each singles and doubles final 12 months.
Keegan Rice shall be Canada’s lone consultant within the junior attracts in Melbourne. Rice, a full-time participant on the Nationwide Tennis Centre, shall be making his second look on the Australian Open.
The junior world No. 48 kicked off his 2024 season in Australia at a J300 occasion in Traralgon, shedding within the second spherical of the singles however reaching the quarter-finals of the doubles. In 2023, he reached the second spherical of each the junior French Open and junior Wimbledon.
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