The floor shift continues in the direction of the onerous courts on the ATP and WTA Excursions, with the primary large occasion, the Nationwide Financial institution Open in Canada, now firmly in sight.
Hoping to impress on house 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 you could know:
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The summer season 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 technique 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 last to assert 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 season hard-court swing on the ATP Tour, changing 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 yet one more clay courtroom occasion on the 2023 calendar this week on the ATP Tour, however the final 500-level event was performed final week, with Alexander Zverev successful his first title since 2021 on house soil in Hamburg. High seed Casper Ruud was overwhelmed within the quarter-finals by Arthur Fils, whereas second seed Andrey Rublev misplaced within the second spherical to Daniel Altmaier.
No Canadians have been competing on both tour final week.
What to Watch: Canadians Kick Off Their Summer time
The hard-court takeover actually begins this week, with 4 of the 5 occasions happening on the floor.
All eyes will probably 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 offers 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 consists of 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 was the primary Canadian up in Washington, however misplaced within the first spherical to Marta Kostyuk regardless of holding a number of match factors.
After coming by means of qualifying to affix Andreescu in the principle 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 prime 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 High-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.
Underneath the Radar:
Every 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 event subsequent 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 dropping a three-setter to Darian King.
Aguilar has 5 doubles titles on the ITF Tour this 12 months however continues to be looking 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 ladies in varied ITF W60s. There may be additionally an ITF wheelchair occasion happening in Windsor, ON.
You may observe the Canadians in motion each week right here.
