Main draw play got underway on Tuesday at the Gatineau National Bank Futures, a $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) event being held at the Sporthèque in Hull from February 28 to March 8, 2009.

Top-seeded Canadian and defending champion Erik Chvojka (Montréal), ranked no. 395 on the South African Airways ATP rankings, opened proceedings, in this, the third edition of the tournament, with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over his compatriot and wildcard card recipient Adil Shamasdin.

“This is definitely the start I was hoping for,” said Chvojka after the match. “It was tight for a while in the second set and he (Shamasdin) had some break points on my serve which I was able to save, so it was a good mental test.”

Chvojka will play his Round of 16 contest on Thursday against the winner of the match between American Adam El Mihdawy and Patrick Rosenholm of Sweden. Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Milan Pokrajac (Mississauga, Ontario) was upset 6-2, 6-4 by Belgian Maxime Authom, ranked no. 683 in the world. Pokrajac was not the only seed to fall on opening day as third-ranked Slovak Andrej Martin and sixth-seeded American Marcus Fugate were also sent packing. Martin, ranked no. 494, was defeated 6-2, 7-6(5) by Germain Gigounon of Belgium while Fugate, ranked no. 594, fell to yet another Belgian, Frederic De Fays, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the most tightly contested match of the day.  

Remaining Canadians begin title bids on Wednesday

Philip Bester (Vancouver) and Kelsey Stevenson (Brighton, Ontario) will play their opening round matches on Wednesday. Bester, a former junior Grand Slam finalist at Roland-Garros, and currently ranked no. 786 in the world, goes up against Michal Pazicky of Slovakia. For his part, Stevenson, another Canadian junior standout, will take on Australian Kaden Hensel.  Milos Raonic (Thornhill, Ontario) was also slated to compete in this year’s tournament, but withdrew when he was called to be part of the Miele Canadian Davis Cup team which is preparing to face Ecuador this weekend in Toronto in an Americas Zone Group I tie.

Action gets underway at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday at the Sporthèque in Hull. For more information on the National Bank Circuit, please visit www.tenniscanada.com