QUEBEC, September 13, 2016

Main draw matches got underway on Monday at the WTA National Bank Cup presented by Mazda at PEPS on the campus of Laval University. Canadians Françoise Abanda, Aleksandra Wozniak, and Carol Zhao were in action.

Eighth-seeded US-American Samantha Crawford and Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure opened play on National Bank Court and Crawford came away with a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 win. Meanwhile, 17-year-old rising star Catherine Bellis, who reached the third round of the U.S. Open, defeated Amandine Hesse of France 6-3, 6-2 in her opening match.

On the Canadian side, Abanda and her partner Elena Bovina of Russia overcame Naomi Broady and Sanaz Marand 6-1, 6-7(3), 12-10. In singles, Zhao fell 6-3, 6-2 to US-American qualifier Lauren Davis.

Wild card Wozniak highlighted Monday’s evening session against US-American Jessica Pegula. The match was tightly contested and featured a lot of close games with Pegula coming out on top 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
“This is the kind of match that I need to win to break the ice,” Wozniak said after the match. “I want to play and I am going to continue doing everything I can to move up the rankings.” 

In the last match of the night, third-seeded Croat Mirjana Lucic Baroni, a former champion of the National Bank Cup, was upset by Danielle Lao 6-4, 6-2.

On Tuesday night, Eugenie Bouchard will play her first round doubles match alongside Jessica Pegula. Abanda will follow in her opening singles match against Mona Barthel of Germany.