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 tough first week for the Canadians on the yr’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 lined a whole lot 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 yr. However at the least one man continues to be giving the nation motive to cheer.
2023 was a yr to neglect for Felix Auger-Aliassime and 2024 didn’t get off to an important begin both as he recovered from a knee damage. After which the draw spat him out in opposition to 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 seek out given every little thing Auger-Aliassime has skilled during the last yr.
When he misplaced the third and fourth units, it might 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 type on these events. However Auger-Aliassime was not enthusiastic about shedding from that place once more.
No matter what occurs subsequent, that match was an enormous step in the correct path for the four-time ATP Tour titlist.
After all, he’s not really completed. He adopted that up with a powerful displaying in opposition to 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 Males’s Energy Rankings
Subsequent up although might be a well-recognized foe: Daniil Medvedev. The 2021 US Open champion is 6-0 in opposition to the Canadian, together with a kind 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 Dangerous Luck to Dangerous 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 a formidable 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 huge pictures.
The ultimate end result 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 in opposition to world No. 10 Alex de Minaur, together with the partisan Melbourne crowd supporting their house 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 capability to increase rallies, it was not a state of affairs that Raonic may get by means of. He was pressured to retire with an damage within the third set.
Rebecca Marino had the harshest draw of any Canadian, going through 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 tricky 2023 and got here in with much more rust. The Canadian No. 2 was nonetheless shaking it off in his first-round match in opposition to Jakub Mensik and the younger Czech took benefit, edging him in three tight units.
Dabrowski Appears to be like for One other Slam
Heading into the 2024 Australian Open, it will have been truthful to say that Canada’s greatest shot at a title got here within the girls’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 obtained by means of their opening match with relative ease, taking down Linda Fruhvirtova and Ashlyn Krueger in straight units 6-1, 7-5. They then grew to become the primary staff to achieve the third spherical when their subsequent opponents, Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, withdrew.
The pair may need a little bit of a wait earlier than their subsequent match, which may very well be in opposition to the sixteenth 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 very best seeds left within the high half of the draw after Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula withdrew.
Learn additionally: Australian Open Girls’s Energy Rankings
Dabrowski’s greatest end result on the Australian Open in girls’s doubles is the quarter-finals, which she has finished twice. However she received the combined doubles title in 2018. She and associate Nathaniel Lammons cruised by means of their first-round combined 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, particularly the wheelchair and junior occasions, and Canada may have gamers aiming to carry 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 associate 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, on the French Open and at Wimbledon. The 34-year-old quad athlete completed 2023 sturdy with a silver medal efficiency on the Parapan Am Video games in Santiago. Shaw additionally reached his career-high rating in each singles and doubles final yr.
Keegan Rice might be Canada’s lone consultant within the junior attracts in Melbourne. Rice, a full-time participant on the Nationwide Tennis Centre, might 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.
