The 2014 Rogers Cup kicks into higher gear

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Wilson Blade 9

With the qualifying matches completed, Monday at the 2014 Rogers Cup in Montreal was all about the main draw matches getting underway as the first big-name players played their first-round matches.

On center court, the day’s action was started by Sabine Lisicki & Sara Errani who entertained the crowd with some spectacular tennis. After losing the first set to the 2013 Wimbledon finalist, Errani rallied back to a comprehensive lead in the second set, forcing the German to dig deep and close out the match in two sets.

Meanwhile, over in the National Bank stadium, Errani’s doubles partner Roberta Vinci was in trouble as well, losing her match to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

Speaking of losing matches, the same fate was shared by Ajla Tomljanovic, who failed to win her first-round encounter against American qualifier Shelby Rogers. Tomljanovic, who recently made headlines by switching her citizenship to Australian, has yet to turn her relocation into positive results.

The two night session matches inside Uniprix Stadium were reserved for two local heroes as Candians Francoise Abanda & Aleksandra Wozniak got to play under the lights on the big stage.

While Wozniak fell prey to Sloane Stephens in two rather quick sets, Abanda, who played through qualifying to make the main draw, played a gutsy match against Dominika Cibulkova.

Cheered on by the Montreal crowd, the 17-year old forced a third set against the Australian Open finalist, forcing Cibulkova to go the distance in her first-round match.

While the experience of Cibulkova ultimately prevailed in the third set, Abanda’s courageous performance is a promising sign of things to come for Canadian tennis.

There will be no shortage of quality tennis tomorrow as Tuesday’s order of play contains no less than 15 singles matches and various doubles match ups.

Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog for all the latest from the 2014 Rogers Cup in Montreal!

1 COMMENT

  1. Francoise Abenda wins the best photo award in this set 🙂 The photo with her right hand in the air. Action shots of Roberta Vinci are also super cool.

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