The third week of the ITF‘s fall tour of Canada takes place in Quebec. Katherine Sebov and Carson Branstine are the local stars of the Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay.
Sebov (6e), who is the reigning singles champion, and Branstine (8e) are the only two Canadian seeds, among their nine compatriots in the main draw.
Both begin their respective journeys against Japanese women from qualifying. On Tuesday, Sebov began the defense of his title by defeating Mana Kawamura in two sets of 6-2, 6-4. As for Branstine, she will face Rinon Okuwaki in the afternoon. The Croatian Lucija Ciric Bagaric is the favorite of the event. She could cross swords with Canadian Stacey Fung in the second round, and Sebov in the quarter-final.
Cadence Brace, semi-finalist in Calgary, will try to continue her momentum when she faces Robin Anderson (5e). A victory would put her ahead of her compatriot Ariana Arseneault in the second round.
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The first round gave rise to a duel between the two best juniors in Canada: Nadia Lagaev (49e) and Emma Dong (85e). They had both received a bye to take part in their first main draw of a professional tournament. It was ultimately Lagaev who advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. She will now meet third seed Gabriela Knutson.
Canadian Ana Grubor is in the same quarter of the table as her two young compatriots. Her first rival will be Anna Rogers and she may have to fight Viktoria Hruncakova (7e) in the second round.
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In the curtain-raiser, Kayla Cross will face Britain’s Tara Moore and could then face second seed Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania.
In doubles, Cross is hoping to get her hands on a third consecutive trophy at home after being crowned champion in Edmonton and Calgary with her American partner Maribella Zamarripa. This week, she teams up with Arseneault. They are the third seed in Saguenay and are at the bottom of the table with the Americans Dalayna Hewitt and Rogers, second seeds.
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Cross and Arseneault form one of three Canadian tandems. In the first round, Zoya Chulak and Anastasia Malysheva face off against Belgian favorites Magali Kempen and Lara Salden. As for Lagaev and Dong, they suffered a defeat in the initial round against Julie Belgraver and Jasmijn Gimbrere.
Three other Canadians are registered in doubles with foreign partners: Brace with the American Paris Corley, Gabriella Lindgren with the Haitian Love-Star Alexis, as well as Raphaëlle Lacasse with Samantha Alicea, from the United States.
