The floor shift continues in the direction of the onerous courts on the ATP and WTA Excursions, with the primary huge occasion, the Nationwide Financial institution Open in Canada, now firmly in sight.
Hoping to impress on residence soil, many Canadians are getting some preparation on this week south of the border.
With only one week to go earlier than the world’s finest arrive, right here’s what it is advisable to know:
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The summer time onerous courtroom season formally obtained underway final week and did so with a bang, because the No. 1-ranked lady made an announcement as she gears up for a US Open title protection.
Iga Swiatek cruised to her first title since Roland-Garros final week in her hometown of Warsaw, Poland, not dropping a set on her approach to her first hard-court title since February. Most impressively, she wrapped up the week by ending off her semifinal earlier within the day earlier than blowing away Laura Siegemund 6-0, 6-1 within the ultimate to say the trophy.
It was the primary time the WTA Poland Open was performed within the Polish capital and was contested on onerous courts.
Taylor Fritz was the primary winner of the summer time hard-court swing on the ATP Tour, turning into simply the seventh completely different man to win the Atlanta Open. The American-Australian domination of the occasion was assured after semifinal Saturday when Fritz booked a date with Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic within the title match.
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The clay season formally got here to an finish final week on the WTA Tour, with Arantxa Rus in Hamburg and Elisabetta Ciocciaretto in Lausanne being crowd the ultimate champions on the filth in 2023.
There may be another clay courtroom occasion on the 2023 calendar this week on the ATP Tour, however the final 500-level match was performed final week, with Alexander Zverev successful his first title since 2021 on residence soil in Hamburg. Prime seed Casper Ruud was crushed within the quarter-finals by Arthur Fils, whereas second seed Andrey Rublev misplaced within the second spherical to Daniel Altmaier.
No Canadians had been competing on both tour final week.
What to Watch: Canadians Kick Off Their Summer season
The hard-court takeover actually begins this week, with 4 of the 5 occasions going down on the floor.
All eyes shall be on the joint ATP-WTA 500 in Washington, D.C. this week, an occasion that contains a quartet of Canadians.
Felix Auger-Aliassime will hope a return to onerous courts gives a lift to his fortunes as he seeks his first match win in over two months. The Canadian, seeded third in D.C., has a first-round bye and can meet both Wu Yibing or Yosuke Watanuki in his opening match.
His first seeded opponent could possibly be No. 13 Ugo Humbert and the Canadian is in the identical quarter as No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov. No. 2 seed Frances Tiafoe is his projected semifinal opponent. Taylor Fritz is the highest seed in a draw that additionally contains Hubert Hurkacz, Sebastian Korda, Christopher Eubanks, and Andy Murray, in addition to comeback gamers Kevin Anderson and Kei Nishikori.
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Bianca Andreescu would be the first Canadian to take to the courtroom. She meets Marta Kostyuk within the first spherical on Monday. A win would arrange a conflict with second seed and world No. 6 Caroline Garcia within the second spherical.
Additionally within the backside half of the draw with Andreescu are No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova (potential QF), No. 6 Belinda Bencic and No. 3 Coco Gauff (potential SF).
After coming by way of qualifying to affix Andreescu in the primary draw, Leylah Annie Fernandez will face Bernarda Pera within the first spherical and would play No. 4 Maria Sakkari within the second spherical. Madison Keys may loom within the quarter-finals earlier than both top seed Jessica Pegula or No. 5 Daria Kasatkina within the semis.
Gabriela Dabrowski is teaming up with Shuko Aoyama in Washington. The pair are seeded second.
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Gabriel Diallo’s quest for a primary win on the ATP Tour takes him to Mexico this week as he’s competing within the ATP 250 occasion in Los Cabos. The 21-year-old faces Gijs Brouwer, 4 spots beneath the Canadian within the rankings, within the first spherical.
Ought to he rating that first tour-level win, Diallo would face both sixth seed Nicolas Jarry or Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez within the second spherical, with a possible conflict first Prime-10 assembly with prime seed Stefanos Tsitsipas looming within the quarter-finals.
The ultimate clay-court occasion of 2023 takes place this week in Kitzbuhel, Austria, the place Roland-Garros quarter-finalist Tomas Martin Etcheverry is the highest seed.
There may be additionally a WTA 250 in Prague this week on onerous courts, with Marie Bouzkova because the No. 1 seed.
Below the Radar:
Per week after claiming the title in Granby, Alexis Galarneau almost managed to qualify for an ATP Tour occasion for the primary time, falling in three units within the final spherical of qualifying in Washington. He’ll compete in his third ATP Tour tournament next week in Toronto.
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After all of the doubles success he’s had in 2023, Juan Carlos Aguilar had a shot at singles glory final week on the ITF Tour, reaching the ultimate of the M15 occasion in Pittsburgh earlier than shedding a three-setter to Darian King.
Aguilar has 5 doubles titles on the ITF Tour this yr however continues to be searching for his first singles title.
There are 5 Canadian males competing on the ATP Challenger Tour this week, in addition to a bunch of Canadian girls in numerous ITF W60s. There may be additionally an ITF wheelchair occasion going down in Windsor, ON.
You’ll be able to comply with the Canadians in motion each week here.
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