Three Canadian women, including two Quebecers, begin their quest Wednesday for a spot in the main draw of the French Open, the second Grand Slam tennis event of the season.
And after the qualifying draw was made, it seems all three have a more-than-reasonable shot.
The player with the most favourable draw is Aleksandra Wozniak, whose greatest success has come in Paris. The 23-year-old from Blainville reached the third round of the big event a year ago, losing a heartbreaker to Elena Dementieva of Russia. Wozniak reached the fourth round in 2009, falling to Serena Williams, and the third round in 2008, succumbing to current world No. 3 Vera Zvonareva.
But Wozniak, once ranked No. 21 in the world, has been sidelined by forearm tendinitis since July and must start from scratch. She missed six months before returning to action in February to represent Canada in Fed Cup play against Serbia. But after just a few tournaments, the injury returned and Wozniak missed another six weeks.
She’ll take the court against China’s Jing-Jing Lu (ranked No. 184) on Wednesday with little match practice and few expectations.
Laval’s Stéphanie Dubois will play Russia’s Alexandra Panova, a player she has easily defeated in two previous encounters, both on the faster hard courts.
Heidi El Tabakh of Oakville, Ont., who got through the qualifying to reach the main draw a year ago, plays Sally Peers of Australia.
The women need to win three matches to reach the main draw of the event, which begins Sunday.
The men’s qualifying started Tuesday, and Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.
Toronto’s Peter Polansky was eliminated in the first round Tuesday, losing 6-7, 6-1, 6-0 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino and Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., are already in the main draw.
Westmount’s Eugenie Bouchard, a semifinalist at the junior Australian Open in January, will be a seeded player in the girls’ junior event.
smyles@montrealgazette.com
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