Bianca Andreescu (Toronto, ON) and Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) booked their places in the quarter-finals of the $50,000 Saguenay National Bank Challenger on Thursday to join their compatriot Charlotte Robillard-Millette (Blainville, QC) in the final eight.
Andresscu led 6-2, 4-1 against American Lauren Albanese before suddenly finding herself down 1-4 in the third and decisive set. The 16-year-old overcame that deficit to post a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory to setup a quarter-final encounter on Friday against Harriet Dart of Great Britain. Andreescu and Robillard-Millette have also advanced to the semifinals in doubles.
Thursday evening’s all-Canadian matchup between Wozniak and Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC) needed three sets to determine a winner. In the end, it was the 29-year-old veteran who came away with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 triumph in just over an hour.
“It’s never easy to play against a friend. It’s harder to manage your emotions in these kind of circumstances,” Wozniak said after the match. “It would have been more exciting if this match was the final.”
Wozniak will meet top-seeded American Catherine Bellis in the quarter-finals, whom she lost to earlier this year at a tournament in Rancho Santa Fe.
“I want to be more consistent from the start this time and of course hope for a better result,” Wozniak added.
Quarter-final matches will get underway at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at the Saguenay indoor tennis club.
