Rogers Cup: Local Favourites Abanda, Wozniak Fall

By Jared Book | Aug 5, 2014

It was not a great day for Canadians at the opening day of the Rogers Cup at Stade Uniprix in Montreal.

Montrealers Francoise Abanda and Aleksandra Wozniak fell to No. 12 player in the world and No. 10 seed Dominika Cibulkova and No. 22 Sloane Stephens respectively.

Abanda, 17 years old, was making her Rogers Cup debut in the wild card spot first given to fellow Canadian Sharon Fichman. She lost the first set 6-1, but fought back and won the second set 6-3 as the crowd was gaining momentum. However, Cibulkova’s experience and skill took over as she took the final set 6-0.

Abanda looked good at times but you could tell that some shots that would be winners at the ITF or Junior levels just weren’t working against a top quality opponent like Cibulkova. Abanda is currently ranked 209 in the world and hopes to get to the top 150 by the end of the year.

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As for Wozniak, she could never get anything going against Stephens, losing 6-3, 6-0. Wozniak has been battling back from injuries that plagued her last year. She finished 2013 280th in the world but has risen that to 97.

She has had success at the Rogers Cup in her home city, including a quarter final appearance in 2012. The result against Stephens, a young American who plays best on hard courts, is surely to be disappointing but also was not an easy draw.

To play, the big names are coming out. Hometown favourite Eugenie Bouchard will play the first game of the night session at 6:00 p.m. on Center Court. Other big names taking Center Court today are Venus Williams, No. 3 seed Aga Radwanska, No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka.

National Bank court features No. 16 seed Andrea Petkovic, No. 11 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 9 seed Ana Ivanovic. Stephanie Dubois will take National Bank court in the final game of the night on that court.

Here is the full order of play for Day 4:

Center Court 12:00 noon
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) vs Venus WILLIAMS (USA)
not before 2:00 p.m.
Barbora ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA (CZE) vs Agnieszka RADWANSKA (POL) [3]
not before 6:00 p.m.
[Q] Shelby ROGERS (USA) vs Eugenie BOUCHARD (CAN) [5]
not before 8:00 p.m.
Victoria AZARENKA (BLR) [8] vs Alizé CORNET (FRA)

National Bank 12:00 noon
Andrea PETKOVIC (GER) [16] vs Camila GIORGI (ITA)
not before 2:00 p.m.
Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) [11] vs Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK)
not before 4:00 p.m.
[Q] Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI) vs Ana IVANOVIC (SRB) [9]
not before 7:00 p.m.
Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS) vs Madison KEYS (USA)
Garbine MUGURUZA (ESP) vs [Q] Stéphanie DUBOIS (CAN)

Court 9 12:00 noon
[Q] Monica PUIG (PUR) vs Samantha STOSUR (AUS)
[Q] Yanina WICKMAYER (BEL) vs [LL] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE)
Bojana JOVANOVSKI (SRB) vs Carla SUÃREZ NAVARRO (ESP) [14]
After suitablerest/Après repos
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS), Lucie SAFAROVA (CZE) vs
Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK), Arantxa PARRA SANTONJA (ESP)

Court 5 12:00 noon
Ekaterina MAKAROVA (RUS) vs Romina OPRANDI (SUI)
Caroline GARCIA (FRA) vs [Q] Karin KNAPP (ITA)
CMartina HINGIS (SUI), Flavia PENNETTA (ITA) vs
Alla KUDRYAVTSEVA (RUS), Anastasia RODIONOVA (AUS) [8]
After suitablerest/Après repos
[WC] Gabriela DABROWSKI (CAN), Shahar PEER (ISR) vs
Andrea PETKOVIC (GER), Magdalena RYBARIKOVA (SVK)

Court 2 12:00 noon
Shuai ZHANG (CHN) vs [Q] Coco VANDEWEGHE (USA)
Jelena JANKOVIC (SRB), Klara KOUKALOVA (CZE) vs
Oksana KALASHNIKOVA (GEO), Olga SAVCHUK (UKR)
After suitablerest/Après repos
Raquel KOPS-JONES (USA), Abigail SPEARS (USA) [6] vs
Samantha STOSUR (AUS), Shuai ZHANG (CHN)
After suitablerest/Après repos
Ekaterina MAKAROVA (RUS), Elena VESNINA (RUS) [5] vs
Anabel MEDINA GARRIGUES (ESP), Yaroslava SHVEDOVA (KAZ)

Court 6 12:00 noon
Casey DELLACQUA (AUS) vs Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL)
After suitable rest/Après repos
Casey DELLACQUA (AUS), Mirjana LUCIC-BARONI (CRO) vs
Kimiko DATE-KRUMM (JPN), Andrea HLAVACKOVA (CZE)