Abanda outlasts her peers in Montreal

MONTREAL Francoise Abanda complained she wasn’t getting the same recognition as Eugenie Bouchard, but the 21-year-old Montrealer will be on centre court Wednesday afternoon to play third-seeded Sloane Stephens at the Rogers Cup.

Abanda, whose ranking dipped to No. 191 after she lost in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon, played inspired tennis to become the only Canadian woman to reach the second round.

She had the National Bank Court grandstand rocking as she upset Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-3, 6-2. Flipkens, who had to qualify for a spot in the main draw, is No. 47 in the world.

Abanda was the steadier player. She took advantage of numerous errors by the Belgian and won 85 per cent of the points on her first serve. She broke Flipkens’ serve four times.

Earlier, Bouchard lost to 14thseeded Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-4. It was the latest in a series of Rogers Cup disappointments for Bouchard, who is No. 129 in the latest WTA rankings. She now has a 4-11 record in the Rogers Cup.

Bouchard had 11 break points against Mertens and cashed in on only two of them.

Meanwhile, No. 18 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands needed only 58 minutes to beat Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., 6-1, 6-2. Zhao, who is No. 137, was returning after month off with an injury, but she was no match for the more experienced Bertens. Zhao has been battling an elbow injury for the last three months.

In other action, Britain’s Johanna Konta upset 11th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, while Russia’s Maria Sharapova defeated Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria.

The tournament lost another seed when No. 7 Garbine Muguruza of Spain withdrew due to an arm injury.