Raonic headlines six Canadians at Wimbledon
Canada originally had three direct entrants in the 2017 Wimbledon main-draw singles but that number has doubled over the past two weeks.
Milos Raonic, Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil were guaranteed spots in the 128-player fields, but Denis Shapovalov’s impressive showing at the Queen’s Club tournament in London two weeks ago earned him a maindraw wild card, and then Bianca Andreescu and Francoise Abanda won their way through three qualifying rounds that finished Friday.
It will be a first Grand Slam singles for the 18-year-old Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ont., who qualified and beat No. 47-ranked Kyle Edmund at Queen’s Club, and for 17-year-old Andreescu from Mississauga, Ont. Abanda, a 20-year-old from Montreal, is in her third.
Excited teenagers Shapovalov and Andreescu both said being in the Wimbledon main event was “surreal.”
“I’m really happy with how I played the last couple of days,” an energized Andreescu said Saturday at Wimbledon, about her qualifying success. “I was really determined. I really wanted it. I got it and now I’m here.”
In the first round Tuesday she faces Kristina Kucova.
“I only know that she plays two hands on both sides,” Andreescu said about the No. 105-ranked Slovak.
Having already upset a player ranked No. 51 — Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan — in Fed Cup in April, the heavyhitting Andreescu has a decent shot at advancing against Kucova as does No. 142-ranked Abanda versus No. 94 Kurumi Nara of Japan.
The No. 61-ranked Bouchard plays 25th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. Of concern is the right ankle injury that limited her at the recent French Open.
“It’s good enough that it’s not something I think about when I play,” said Bouchard, winless at two pre-Wimbledon grasscourt tournaments. “I’m wearing a brace and I’ll probably be wearing a brace for the rest of the season. It’s too risky to re-injure it. Then it might be something worse.”
Bouchard, 1-2 against Suarez Navarro, said she’s familiar with the Spaniard having practised with her two weeks ago in Majorca.
She plays today, as do Abanda and Shapovalov, with Raonic, Andreescu and Pospisil starting Tuesday. The No. 75ranked Pospisil, who likely has the stiffest challenge of all the Canadians in world No. 8 Dominic Thiem of Austria, is in good form at the moment. He reached Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2015.