Canadian Trio Making Strong Title Push
March 20, 2009
Three of Canadian tennis’ leading ladies are a few wins away from adding some hardware to their trophy cases.
Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, Quebec) and Valérie Tétreault (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) and Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, Quebec) have each reached the quarter-finals of their respective tournaments.
Dubois, seeded third at the 25K Redding Challenger in California, advanced to the final eight on Thursday thanks to a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over American wildcard recipient Sloane Stephens. The 22-year old will take on sixth-seeded Italian Alberta Brianti in the quarter-finals. Dubois reached the semifinals at last year’s Redding Challenger where she fell to her compatriot Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, Quebec) in a hotly contested three-set affair. The tournament serves as a warm up event for next week’s Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour premier tournament.
Tétreault is in Mexico taking part in the 25K Irapuato clay court Challenger. The 21-year old has eliminated two clay court specialists en route to the quarter-finals including a dominant 6-1, 6-1 triumph over fourth-seeded Soledad Esperon of Argentina in the Round of 16. Tétreault will face sixth-seeded Argentinean Jorgelina Cravero on Friday for the chance to reach her first semifinal of the season.
Bouchard continues her quest to be the best at the prestigious Banana Bowl, a Grade 1 ITF clay court junior event being played in Florianapolis, Brazil, The 15-year old rising star has posted wins over the 27th and 50th ranked junior players in the world to reach the final eight. Bouchard will battle eleventh-seeded American Madison Keys in the quarter-finals. Bouchard’s performance in Brazil guarantees that she will crack the Top 100 on the ITF junior rankings for the first time in her young career.