Sebov Aiming for Title Defence in Saguenay

Week three of the ITF fall swing via Canada brings the tour again east this week as Katherine Sebov and Carson Branstine star for the house nation on the Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay in Quebec. 

Sebov, who’s the defending champion in Saguenay, and Branstine are the one two seeded Canadians within the singles draw at No. 6 and No. 8 respectively. There are 9 Canadians in whole within the competitors. 

Each seeded Canadians open towards Japanese qualifiers. Sebov kicked off her title defence on Tuesday with a win over Mana Kawamura whereas Branstine meets Rinon Okuwaki. Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia is the highest seed. She may face Canadian Stacey Fung within the second spherical and is Sebov’s projected quarter-final opponent. 

Calgary semifinalist Cadence Brace will look to deliver some momentum east however faces a problem in spherical one towards No. 5 seed Robin Anderson. She may have an all-Canadian conflict in spherical two towards Ariana Arseneault. 

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One first-round match that passed off on Monday was a battle between Canada’s high two juniors: Nadia Lagaev (junior world No. 49) and Emma Dong (No. 85). Lagaev defeated Dong 6-3, 6-4. Each acquired wild playing cards into their third foremost draw of a girls’s tour occasion. Lagaev will face third seed Gabriela Knutson.  

Ana Grubor is in the identical quarter as her two younger compatriots and will meet one in every of them within the quarter-finals. She opens towards Anna Rogers and will need to undergo No. 7 seed Viktoria Hruncakova within the second spherical. 

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Kayla Cross kicks off her singles marketing campaign towards Tara Moore and will face second seed Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania within the second spherical. 

Within the doubles, Cross can be seeking to win her third title on residence soil in as many weeks after rising victorious in each Edmonton and Calgary. Each of these titles got here with American associate Maribella Zamarripa, however this week she is teaming up with fellow Canadian Arseneault. They’re the third seeds in Saguenay and are within the backside half of the draw with second seeds Dalayna Hewitt and Anna Rogers of the USA. 

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Cross and Arseneault are one in every of three all-Canadian groups within the doubles draw. Zoya Chulak and Anastasia Malysheva play high seeds Magali Kempen and Lara Salden of Belgium in spherical one. Lagaev and Dong teamed up however misplaced within the first spherical. 

Three different Canadians are competing with overseas companions within the doubles: Brace with American Paris Corley, Gabriella Lindgren with Haiti’s Love-Star Alexis, and Raphaelle Lacasse with Samantha Alicea.