First Round Begins at Inaugural Winnipeg Challenger

Canadian player Marie-Alexandre Leduc prepares for
main draw action which will start for her on Tuesday
at the 2013 CIBC Wood Gundy Challenger.

Article courtesy of Tennis Canada

Day one of main draw singles action has wrapped up at the first annual CIBC Wood Gundy Challenger, a $25,000 women’s ITF Pro Circuit event in Winnipeg, with some young Canadian players finding tough competition in their international opponents on Monday.

After playing her way past fellow Canadian Maria Patrascu and Emi Mutaguchi of Japan in the qualifying rounds, 14-year-old Rosie Johanson of British Columbia performed admirably before being eliminated in the first round of the main draw by Japanese Misa Eguchi 7-5, 7-5.

Erin Routliffe (Caledon, Ont.) also entered the main draw thanks to success in qualifying, and after dropping the first set to American Caitlin Whoriskey, she was able to come back and force a third set before ultimately falling 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Things were no better for 16-year-old Alexis Prokopuik (North Vancouver), who entered the main draw as a wild card. Prokopuik faced the more experienced Akiko Omae of Japan, and was ousted after losing the match 6-2, 6-0.

Despite dropping three players in the first day of action, Canadians still have hope in their eight other participants who entered the main draw of the $25K tournament, including No. 5 seed Heidi El Tabakh of Toronto, who will take on England’s Jade Windley in the first round on Tuesday.

While tennis fans in Winnipeg can attend matches free of charge at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club, viewers at home can follow the live scoring of their favorite Canadian players at www.tenniscanada.com. For more information on the CIBC Wood Gundy Challenger, please visit www.winnipegchallenger.com.