GRANBY, August 3, 2022 (Tennis Canada Press Release)
Today, the inaugural edition of the Granby National Bank Championships—a combined event featuring a Hologic WTA Tour 250 tournament and an ATP Challenger—announced the names of the players who will be competing at Tennis Saint-Luc from August 20 to 28. At present, 23 women in the WTA Top 100 have confirmed their participation. The 32-player main draw will also include four qualifiers, four wild cards and one special exempt competitor. Among the headliners are No. 25 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil. The 26-year-old left-hander is having the best season of her career and recently won her first two WTA singles titles in Nottingham and Birmingham. An equally talented doubles player (winner in Sydney and Nottingham in 2022), she promises to be a formidable opponent in Granby. In recent months, she has overpowered eight Top 50 players, including No. 3 Maria Sakkari and former National Bank Open champions Simona Halep (No.16), Petra Kvitova (No.24) and Camila Giorgi (No.29). Another player to watch is No. 43 Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium, who happens to be a Canadian WTA 250 titleholder. In 2017, when the Championships were National Bank Cup in Québec, she defeated Timea Babos of Hungary in the final to raise the winner’s trophy. In Granby, Van Uytvanck will be out to rekindle the tennis magic and end the drought that started in 2019. Quite a few competitors have the potential to break through at the Granby National Bank Championships, including No. 55 Anna Bondar of Hungary, No. 56 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 59 Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain, No. 73 Tereza Martincova of Czechia, No. 74 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and No. 83 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia. Despite tumbling in the rankings, they all competed in the Top 50 this season. In February, Zidansek rose as high as No.22 after an excellent 2021 season during which she won her first Hologic WTA Tour singles crown in Lausanne and got to the final in Bogota and the semifinals at Roland-Garros. Click here for the full list of competitors in the women’s event of the Granby National Bank Championships. “We’re very pleased that Granby will be presenting a Hologic WTA Tour event and that Canada will be hosting several of the world’s best women’s tennis players for the second time this year,” said Eugène Lapierre, senior vice president of professional tennis in Québec. “While they may not be in the draw yet, we can confirm that a number of Canadian players will also enter the competition. They’ll have the chance to gain valuable ranking points at home, and the younger ones will get the fantastic opportunity to experience a high-caliber tournament. Their names will be announced in the coming weeks.”On the men’s side, one Canadian has already confirmed his participation in the Challenger: Alexis Galarneau (Laval, QC), who is currently ranked No.238 after starting the season out at No. 378. The Quebecer has been on the rise thanks to his great results, including an appearance in the final at the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger. Building on his success, Galarneau should be feeling confident as he makes his way to Granby, especially since it will be one of his first tournaments in his home province since he turned pro. The ATP rankings dictate that top two seeds will be No. 66 Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic and No. 69 Arthur Rinderknech of France. Vesely, who ranked as high as No.35 in 2015, has orchestrated his fair share of upsets this season. In the second round of Wimbledon this past June, he eliminated No. 35 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in five sets (6-3, 5-7, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(7)) and fought his way into the final in Dubai, ousting No.16 Marin Cilic, No.18 Roberto Bautista Augut, No. 6 Novak Djokovic and No. 22 Denis Shapovalov along the way. As for Rinderknech, he has also outmaneuvered some big names in 2022, including Shapovalov, No. 24 Karen Kachanov and No. 42 Alexander Bublik, and took the title at the Poznan Open Challenger in Poland in June. Ranked as high as No. 48 at the start of the season, the Frenchman will be focused on making Granby a success and collecting key points before heading into the US Open the following week. “In 2022, Granby will showcase some high-quality tennis, as it gives fans the opportunity to see WTA stars and emerging ATP aces in action,” added Richard Quirion, tournament director of the Granby National Bank Championships. “In Canada, the caliber of the tournament in Granby is second only to that of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, and I’m convinced local enthusiasts will be dazzled by the sensational matches that are in store from August 20 to 28!” Click here for the full list of competitors in the men’s event of the Granby National Bank Championships.
