From Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov to Bianca Andreescu, Leylah Fernandez: How the Canadian contingent has fared in French Open 1st week?
The French Open 2024 is about to enter its second week and most of the top players including Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek, and Aryna Sabalenka have progressed to the fourth round already.
14-time champion Rafael Nadal lost in his first-round match, while Barbora Krejcikova lost in her opening match as well. Nicolas Jarry and Alejandro Tabilo also lost quite early, but most of the seeded players have managed to get into the second round of the competition.
In this article, we will take a look at how the Canadian contingent has done in the tournament so far:
Felix Auger-Aliassime the lone Canadian man standing in the fourth round:
Auger-Aliassime, the 23-year-old Canadian seeded 21st in the tournament, has played well so far. He is also the only Canadian man left in the round of 16. He has won two of his three matches in straight sets - against Yoshihito Nioshioka and Ben Shelton in the first and third rounds, respectively.
Henri Squire took a set off Auger-Aliassime in the second round, but the latter did not have much difficulty in winning the match. However, the Canadian will take on third-seed Alcaraz in the fourth round, which should be a litmus test for his ability. Alcaraz is one of the favorites to win the tournament, and it would be a herculean task for Auger-Aliassime to get past him.
Shapovalov, the other Canadian man, won his first two matches against Luca Van Assche and Frances Tiafoe, respectively, but failed to get past eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz, who won the third-round encounter in four sets.
Gabriel Diallo was the other Canadian man in the main draw but lost to Kei Nishikori in the first round itself.
No Canadian woman left in the fourth round:
Bianca Andreescu won her first two matches against Sara Sorribes Tormo and Anna Kalinskaya, respectively.
However, she then lost to Jasmine Paolini in three sets in the third round. Leylah Fernandez, the 31st seed, was the only other woman from Canada in the main draw. She thrashed Jessika Ponchet in the first round and triumphed over Wang Xiyu in straight sets in the second.
However, Fernandez then succumbed to a defeat to eighth seed Ons Jabeur in the third round. Thus, the women's draw at the French Open 2024 will be without any representation from Canada.