Photo : Sarah-Jade Champagne
The first round of qualifying for the ATP Challenger National Bank Championships took place on Sunday in Granby, featuring a large group of players from the host country.
Nine Canadians were looking to take a step towards the main draw in Granby, with eight of the ten matches played featuring at least one player from the host country.
Overall, the Canadian men went 4-5 in the first round of qualifying.
One of those matches was an all-Canadian clash between Kelsey Stevenson and Aurel Ciocanu, where the 32-year-old Stevenson rallied after dropping the opening set to claim a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
Joining Stevenson in the second round of qualifying are fellow Canadians Justin Boulais, Dan Martin, and fourth seed Taha Baadi, all of whom claimed straight-set victories. Boulais and Martin both caused upsets, knocking out the seventh and second seeds respectively.
Canadians Stefan Simeunovic, Christian Lakoseljac, Sid Donarski and Niels Peter van Noord were all defeated by seeded opponents.
The two matches that did not feature Canadians before had Australian players playing. Luke Saville defeated Petros Tsitsipas, brother of Stefanos, in straight sets, but Edward Winter lost to the Irish fifth seed Osgar O’Hoisin.
10th seed Jonathan Eysseric got a free pass to the second round of qualifying when his opponent, Mac Kiger, withdrew.
Qualifying will conclude with the second round on Monday in Granby. All four remaining Canadians have a chance to qualify, as none of them have to play another Canadian.
