Canada’s Francoise Abanda advances to second round at National Bank Cup

QUEBEC — Canada’s Francoise Abanda made it through the first round of the National Bank Cup, defeating Germany’s Mona Barthel in straight sets on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old Montreal native, who is in the tournament as a wild card, downed the sixth-seeded Barthel 7-6 (7), 6-4 at Laval University in one hour 29 minutes 57 seconds to advance.

The victory was Abanda’s first main-draw triumph in three tries at the tournament.

Abanda will face Jessica Pegula in the second round on Thursday after the American made it through with a first-round defeat of Montreal’s Aleksandra Wozniak on Monday night.

In the biggest surprise of the day, defending champion Annika Beck of Germany was knocked out in the opening round by Barbora Stefkova 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 after holding a lead of 6-2, 5-2. Stefkova, of the Czech Republic, only got into the main draw following the withdrawal of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Beck was the No. 2 seed.

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Eugenie Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., will try and join Abanda in the second round when she faces ninth-seeded Mandy Minella of Luxembourg on Wednesday. Bouchard is the No. 1 seed in the field of 32 players competing for the $250,000 purse.

Bouchard and Pegula teamed on Tuesday night in first-round doubles action, but were eliminated 6-4, 6-4 by the Russian duo of Alla Kudryavtseva and Alexandra Panova.

Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., and American Jamie Loeb also lost in the first round of doubles. Zhao and Loeb were beaten by Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0.

The Canadian Press