The professional tennis circuits are making their first regularly-scheduled stops (Davis Cup excluded) in Canada this week as the ITF World Tours land in Trois-Rivieres and Sherbrooke, QC. The women are competing in Trois-Rivieres while the men are further south in Sherbrooke. Both events are 15-level tournaments.
These two events are the first of 2025 in the new Road to the NBO.
W15 Trois-Rivieres: Canadian Youth on Display
The women’s event in Trois-Rivieres is full of young Canadians to watch. All seven Canadian women in the singles main draw are under the age of 25, with five of them under 18.
Nadia Lagaev was the only member of the under-18 crew to receive direct entry into the main draw based on ranking. She will open against Valentina Ivanov of New Zealand and could play third seed Hiroko Kuwata in the second round.
15-year-old Catherine Xie came through qualifying to get into the main draw, where she will face another qualifier, American Kianah Motosono, in the first round. With a win, she could face fellow Canadian teen Clemence Mercier in the second round. Mercier received a wild card and will play seventh seed Jaeda Daniel of the United States.
Read also: February Mailbag – Guillaume Marx on Canada’s Pro Success and Coaching Future Stars
Anna Tabunshchyk, 16, is another wild card and plays American Sebastiani Leon in her opening match. A win would see her face fourth seed Amy Zhu of the United States.
Ana Grubor, age 21, was the top Canadian in the draw but lost in the first round on Monday. Wild cards Raphaelle Lacasse, the eldest Canadian in the draw at 24, and Isabelle Marton, 16, also lost on Monday to the fifth and fourth seeds respectively.
Read also: Tennis Canada to award National Bank Open main-draw wild card to Canadian winners of new competition – the Road to the NBO
Emily Appleton of Great Britain is the top seed.
Seven Canadians are also competing in the doubles, including three all-Canadian teams.
Brook Feth and Tabunshchyk opened the tournament with a win on Monday and could face another all-Canadian team, Raphaelle Bruneau and Xie, in the second round if the latter pair beat the third seeds Dasha Ivanova and Zhu.
Read also: Tétreault Happy to Inspire Progress for Women in Tennis
Lagaev and Mercier are teaming up and open against the American pair of Elizabeth Ionescu and Christasha McNeil. They could play the second seeds Leon and Malaika Rapolu in the second round.
Lacasse is the lone Canadian playing with a non-Canadian partner and is the only Canadian seeded in either draw. She and American Taylor Gruber are the fourth seeds and open against Najah Dawson of Jamaica and Motosono.
M15 Sherbrooke: Clashes of Canadians Aplenty
Juan Carlos Aguilar leads the Canadian contingent in Sherbrooke. The two-time ITF singles champion, including earlier this year in Kingston, Jamaica, is the second seed at the first event of 2025 on home soil. He has an all-Canadian clash in round one against 18-year-old Nicolas Arseneault.
There are eight Canadians overall in the singles draw so far. Wild cards Joshua Peck and Nicaise Muamba could meet in the second round, although Muamba meets No. 8 seed Strong Kirchheimer in the first round. They are in the top quarter with another Canadian, Dan Martin, who could meet top seed Patrick Maloney in the second round. Peck and Martin both play to-be-determined qualifiers.
Another potential all-Canadian second round clash is in the bottom half of the draw, with Benjamin Thomas George and Mikael Arseneault projected to meet. Arseneault will play a qualifier while George will face off with eighth seed Taha Baadi, who until recently represented Canada but now plays for Morocco.
Read also: Pegula, Tsitsipas Claim First Titles of 2025
Adam Farag-Cao rounds out the Canadians so far. The wild card will play Korean junior Hoyoung Roh in the first round, with sixth-seeded Aussie Edward Winter potentially waiting in the second round.
Canada is guaranteed to get at least three more men into the main draw. Qualifying will conclude on Tuesday and there are three all-Canadian matchups on the schedule: Joshua Lapadat vs Aurel Ciocanu, Andrei Caragea vs Andres Ispas, and Sid Donarski vs Eloi Roux. Niels Peter Van Noord is also still alive in qualifying.
In doubles, there are four all-Canadian pairs and 12 total representatives of the host nation in the draw. The Arseneault twins will meet a fellow all Canadian team of Farag-Cao and Miko Lapalme in the first round with the winner possibly playing the second-seeded Dutch squad of Brian Bozemoj and Daniel De Jonge.
Read also: Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov Arrive in Indian Wells in Form
Ispas and Roux got an unfortunate draw as they will meet top seeds Keshav Chopra and Philip Jordan of the United States in the first round. Caden Colburne and Andy Tchinda Kepche also drew a seeded team, the No. 8 pair that features fellow Canadian Lapadat and Baadi.
Muamba and Peck will meet in the first round for the right to play either Ispas and Roux or the top seeds. Muamba is playing with American Alfredo Perez while Peck partners Brit Max Benaim.
Martin rounds out the Canadian contingent alongside American partner Matt Kuhar. They play the American team of Ronald Hohmann and Oren Vasser in the first round.
CLICK HERE for the latest standings in the Road to the NBO.
