Aleksandra Wozniak Gets Wild-Card Berth To Sony Open
By Jared Book
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Coming off a fourth-round exit at Indian Wells, Blainville native Aleksandra Wozniak has earned a Wild Card berth to take part in the Sony Open set to begin next week in Miami.
Wozniak had her best tournament since returning to injury making the fourth round before losing in straight sets to Li Na. Wozniak gets the Wild Card spot after a trade that Tennis Canada made with the IMG agency.
Tennis Canada receives one main draw and one qualifying wildcard in exchange for a qualifying wildcard at the Rogers Cup as well as main draw wildcards at the women’s challengers in Vancouver, Saguenay, and Toronto.
The Wild Card berth is important for Wozniak as she no longer has to go through qualifying for the event. Wozniak is currently No. 241 in the world but should move up to around 180 with the points earned this week. She used up her final of eight allotted tournaments to get into the tournament at Indian Wells. She had the injury allotment due to her protected ranking of 41.
The extra qualifying Wild Card earned by Tennis Canada in the trade will go to Francoise Abanda, another Montreal native. Abanda won her first professional tournament in Florida earlier this year. Abanda is only 17 years old. It will be the first Sony Open appearance for Abanda.
Wozniak was part of the Canadian Fed Cup team that beat Serbia back in February. Eugenie Bouchard also reached the round of 16 at Indian Wells and will take part in the Miami tournament. Bouchard who trains in Florida has considered the state her second home and is looking forward to the event.
With the jump in rankings, Wozniak has also solidified a spot at the French Open where she has had the most success historically in Grand Slam tournaments.