Raonic digs deep with difficult draw

Milos Raonic blasted through one of the hardest draws a seeded player has been dealt in recent memory. Opening up against Aussie favourite Nick Kyrgios, the No. 16 seed showed no trouble on his serve, winning the match in straight sets setting up a monster second round encounter against Stan Wawrinka. Raonic produced a serving masterclass in that match, firing 39 aces and attacking the net 96 times (won 72 per cent of those points) en route to a four-set all-tiebreak win. After defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the third round, Raonic played a flawless match against the No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, who was far from his top level. That set up a quarterfinal matchup against Lucas Pouille, whom Raonic owned a 3-0 head-to-head career record against, but it was anything like their previous matchups. Pouille played arguably the match of his life with incredible defence and threatened Raonic’s serve many times throughout. The No. 28 seed won the four-set battle, making his first career semi-final. Raonic did reveal afterwards he had been dealing with a knee issue and would be getting it looked at this week and there were signs of his serve velocity dropping. An important hard-court season is on the horizon for Raonic who sees his ranking move up three spots to No. 14 in the world.

 

 

Andreescu arrives

Bianca Andreescu has taken the WTA tour by storm in 2019. After making her very first final in Auckland to start the year, the 18-year old posted three straight wins in qualifying at the Australian Open and a first-round win against fellow up-and-comer Whitney Osuigwe. Andreescu then faced the No. 13 seed Anastasija Sevastova in the second round, splitting the first two sets before she began to experience cramping in her lower body. The Mississauga, Ont., native came up short in the final set but had she remained healthy it could have very well been a different outcome. Andreescu’s rise up the rankings did not stop there. She travelled across the Pacific to take part in the Newport Beach 125k series event this past week and won all six of her matches to earn her first career WTA title. She boasted wins over Genie Bouchard, Tatjana Maria and then Jessica Pegula in the final where she came back from losing the first set 6-0. In just one month, Andreescu’s ranking has risen 84 spots up to No. 68 in the world and has now passed Bouchard as the new top-ranked Canadian player. 

 

 

Denis runs into Djokovic

Denis Shapovalov did what only two other players were able to do at the Australian Open: take a set off the champion Novak Djokovic. When the draw was released, all signs pointed to a third-round and first- career clash between the Canadian and No. 1 player in the world. After dropping the first two sets, Shapovalov was able to increase his level and began to frustrate Djokovic, coming back from a break down and winning four straight games to take the third set. Even though the now seven-time champion easily took the fourth set, it was a great sign to see Shapovalov fight back against the world’s best. The 19-year old did boast straight-sets wins in the first two rounds against Pablo Andujar and Taro Daniel, and his ranking moves up two spots to No. 25 in the world.

 

 

Serena ends Bouchard’s brief stop in Melbourne

Just like Shapovalov, Genie Bouchard’s path collided with an all-time great early in the draw. Serena Williams waited in the second round with all eyes pointed to a blockbuster match. Bouchard had to get there first, winning her first-round match in dominating fashion against former grand-slam semi-finalist Peng Shuai, losing just three games. It was a role reversal in the match against Williams, where Bouchard won just four games in what was a straight-forward win for the 23-time grand slam champion. Bouchard’s ranking moved up three spots up to No. 76 and has relatively no points to defend until June.

 

 

Leylah leaves her mark

Canadian tennis has had an abundance of junior talent this decade with multiple Grand Slam winners. Eugenie Bouchard, Filip Peliwo, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime all won junior slams and Leylah Fernandez came up just short of joining them. The 16-year old from Montreal won five matches to the reach junior girls’ final where she was defeated by the No. 1 seed Clara Tauson from Denmark.  The 16-year-old adds the final result to a resume that includes a semi-final in last year’s French Open and a quarterfinal in her last slam at the US Open.  Fernandez, a left-handed player with hidden power, is giving Canadian tennis fans another player to look out for in the future with these impressive results.