MONTREAL, June 24, 2017
The players’ list for the 2017 edition of the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger was unveiled on Thursday and it includes several young Canadians who are already serving notice in the tennis world. The $100,000 tournament will be played on hard courts at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club from July 8-16, 2017.
Sixteen-year-old Félix Auger-Aliassime, who just became the seventh youngest player in history to win an ATP Challenger event after being crowned champion in Lyon last weekend, will be in the main draw. Thanks to his performance, the 16-year-old improved his ranking by more than 100 places to sit at a career best of No. 231 in the world.
Fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov will also be in Winnipeg. The 18-year-old pushed World No. 14 Tomas Berdych to three sets in the second round at Queen’s on Wednesday after knocking out Kyle Edmund in the opening round. The World No. 193 was also awarded a main draw wildcard for Wimbledon. In 2016, Shapovalov won the boys’ junior singles title at the All England Club.
“We have never had such a strong and exciting group of Canadian players come to Winnipeg. Tennis fans in the area will have the chance to see Félix and Denis, who are not only the future of Canadian tennis, but also the future of international tennis,” said Mark Arndt, founder of the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger.
The entry list is led by defending champion Go Soeda of Japan and 2016 runner-up Blaz Kavcic from Slovenia. Soeda won last year’s final 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Tickets for the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger are available starting at $5 per day or $25 for the week. Visit: http://winnipeg.challengerbanquenationale.com/tickets-activities-information/ for more information.
Full Entry List
Soeda, Go JPN 107
Kavcic, Blaz SLO 111
Polansky, Peter CAN 123
Duckworth, James AUS 127
Lee, Duckhee KOR 145
Jung, Jason TPE 159
Ito, Tatsuma JPN 177
Uchiyama, Yasutaka JPN 180
Moriya, Hiroki JPN 181
Shapovalov, Denis CAN 193
Ivashka, Ilya BLR 204
Diez, Steven CAN 222
Mott, Blake AUS 223
Auger-Aliassime, Felix CAN 231
Schnur, Brayden CAN 244
Rola, Blaz SLO 259
Sarkissian, Alexander USA 270
Chen, Ti TPE 275
Bangoura, Sekou USA 282
Purcell, Max AUS 285
Dancevic, Frank CAN 292
Takahashi, Yusuke JPN 293
Giron, Marcos USA 301
Peliwo, Filip CAN 310
