GRANBY, July 13, 2017

Tennis Canada announced Wednesday the list of players who will participate in the Granby National Bank Challenger. The tournament features a mixed draw, with the men competing in the $100,000 ATP Challenger event and the women competing in the $60,000 ITF Challenger event. The tournament will be held from July 22 to 30 at the Club de tennis des loisirs de Granby.

Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, ON), Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON), Steven Diez (Toronto, ON) and Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON) will be competing in the men’s main draw. Shapovalov has had success at National Bank Challenger events in the last two years, notably reaching the quarter-finals in Granby and the semi-finals in Drummondville and Gatineau in 2016 as well as taking home the title in Drummondville earlier this year. Since making the jump to the professional tour, he has climbed up the rankings to no. 164 in addition to reaching the second round of an ATP 500 level tournament in London and playing in his first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon. Shapovalov will be joined by compatriots Schnur and Diez, both of whom have never moved past the second round in Granby. Polansky, whose best performance came in 2009 when he reached the semi-finals, will also be in action as the tournament’s third seed.

In the women’s draw, 17-year-old Bianca Andreescu (Mississauga, ON) will be returning to North America after winning two ITF Women’s Circuit events in Italy and qualifying for her first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon earlier this year. As the tournament’s second seed, she will be looking to improve on her second round appearance from last year. Former world no. 21 Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) will also make her return to the Granby Challenger after reaching the semi-finals in 2016. Wozniak will be coming to Granby after playing in Challenger events in Winnipeg and Gatineau. 18-year-old Katherine Sebov (Toronto, ON) will be making her second appearance in Granby, after qualifying for the main draw, but ultimately losing in the first round in 2015. Rounding out the Canadian contingent will be Charlotte Robillard-Millette (Blainville, QC) and Carol Zhao (Richmond Hill, ON), both of whom will be looking to improve on their early round exits from 2016. They are expected to receive wild cards for the tournament.

“There will be no shortage of Canadian content at this year’s tournament in Granby, as nine players are set to compete in the event. Fans will be able to follow their favourite players from up close on the courts of the Club de tennis des loisirs de Granby,” stated the Granby Tournament Director, Eugène Lapierre. “Local players have experienced tremendous success at this tournament in the past, with seven Canadians being crowned champion since 1993. We look forward to continuing that trend in 2017.”

On the international front, Granby will welcome one Top 100 players and 13 Top 200 players in both the men and women’s draws. The tournament’s top two seeds in the men’s draw are tour veterans Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia (no. 110) and Go Soeda of Japan (no. 113). The 30-year-old Kavcic earned a career-high ranking of no. 68 in 2012 and currently holds 14 singles titles on the ATP Challenger tour. Although he has yet to claim a title in 2017, he went on a successful run during the Asian swing of Challenger events earlier this year, where he reached two finals. For his part, Soeda earned a career-high ranking of world no. 47 in 2012 thanks to his three ATP Challenger titles and his two semi-final appearances at ATP 250 events. Fans will also want to keep an eye out for Frenchman Vincent Millot who won the singles title in Granby in 2015, when he defeated Canadian Philip Bester in the final.

Granby will also play host to a number of top ranked female players, including world no. 91 Jana Cepelova of Slovakia. Having reached a career-high ranking of no. 50 and defeating Serena Williams at Charleston in 2014, Cepelova is working her way back up the WTA rankings. In 2017, she has played in the first round of each of the Grand Slams so far, she reached the third round at Miami after going through qualifications and she ousted Canadian Eugenie Bouchard on her way to reaching the semi-finals at Istanbul.
The Granby National Bank Challenger is the second of two mixed draw tournaments held in Quebec during the month of July. The tournament was proceeded by the Gatineau National Bank Challenger.

Men’s Entry List

1 Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 110
2 Go Soeda (JPN) 113
3 Peter Polansky (CAN) 127
4 James Duckworth (AUS) 133
5 Jason Jung (TPE) 160
6 Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 161
7 Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 164
8 Vincent Millot (FRA) 171
9 Tatsuma Ito (JPN) 181
10 Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 186
11 Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 187
12 Marc Polmans (AUS) 202
13 Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) @216
14 Yuki Bhambri (IND) 222
15 Steven Diez (CAN) 225
16 Mackenzie Mcdonald (USA) 228
17 Felix Auger Aliassime (CAN) 231
18 Brayden Schnur (CAN) 233
19 Roberto Quiroz (ECU) 239
20 Lloyd Harris (RSA) 255
21 Ti Chen (TPE) 262
22 Matthew Ebden (AUS) 263
23 SE
24 SE
25 Wildcard
26 Wildcard
27 Wildcard
28 Wildcard
29 Qualifier
30 Qualifier
31 Qualifier
32 Qualifier