TORONTO, November 2, 2018 (Press Release)
Two Canadian players were facing off on Thursday at the Tevlin Challenger. Sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the tournament offers $60,000 USD in prize money and will be held from October 29 to November 4 at the Aviva Centre in Toronto.
In an all-Canadian second round match-up in Toronto, Bianca Andreescu (Mississauga, ON) was taking on Katherine Sebov (Toronto, ON) for the second time. In the summer of 2017, it was Sebov who got the better of her compatriot in the second round at the Granby Challenger. Andreescu was looking to even out their head-to-head on Thursday. She got off to a hot start, converting on her break point opportunities to go up early in the match. She needed 26 minutes to take the first set, capitalizing on Sebov’s errors and maintaining control of play. After Andreescu jumped out to another early lead, it was Sebov who was forced to retire from the match due to an injury that she sustained in her first round match the day before. Andreescu moves on to the quarter-finals for a second straight week with a victory by a score of 6-1, 2-0 ret.
Another Canadian was looking to continue her winning ways, as Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON) was in doubles quarter-final action, playing alongside partner Maria Sanchez of the United States. The pair, who are both experienced doubles players, reached the final last week in Saguenay and are one step closer to repeating the feat this week in Toronto, as they booked their spot in the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win on Thursday.
In addition to Andreescu, there will be two other top seeded players in the quarter-finals, as the No. 1 seed Kateryna Kozlova of the Ukraine and Jessika Ponchet of France (no. 6) both won their second round matches on Wednesday. The other singles quarter-finalists include Robin Anderson of the United States, Dasha Lopatetskaya of the Ukraine, Kimberley Zimmermann of Belgium, Sherazad Reix of France and Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands, who defeated the second seed Conny Perrin on Thursday and who was the finalist at the Saguenay Challenger last week.
