MELBOURNE, January 14, 2017

The draws have been made for the 2017 edition of the Australian Open with Canadians Eugenie Bouchard (Montreal, QC) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) earning direct entry into the main draw for the first Grand Slam of the season.

Raonic, ranked no. 3 in the world and seeded third in the tournament, will meet Germany’s Dustin Brown in the first round. The two players also met in the first round of the U.S. Open last year and it was Raonic who came out on top in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Gael Monfils of France and Spaniard Rafael Nadal, whom Raonic defeated in Brisbane last week, are among the seeded players in the Canadian’s quarter while defending champion Novak Djokovic is in the same half of the draw. In 2016, Raonic lost in the semifinals in Melbourne to Andy Murray of Great Britain.

For her part, Bouchard faces a first meeting with US-American Louisa Chirico in her opening match Down Under. Chirico, aged 20, is ranked no. 65 in the world. Bouchard will be looking to carry the momentum from her semifinal showing in Sydney this week. A win over Chirico could set up another matchup with an up and coming player in world no. 26 Daria Kasatkina of Russia. Bouchard reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2014.

On Friday, Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON) lost to Russia’s NextGen star Andrey Rublev in the final round of men’s qualifying, losing 4-6, 6-4, 3-6.