By Canadian Press

Abanda, Ostapenko representing younger wave of tennis stars at Rogers Cup

Aug 4, 2017 | 4:00 PM

TORONTO — It wasn’t long ago that Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and Canadian Francoise Abanda were competing against each other on the junior tennis circuit.

Now regulars on the senior scene of the women’s game, they’re representing a younger crop of players at next week’s Rogers Cup. 

“A lot of good players born in 1997 are now on tour and it’s really nice to see,” Ostapenko said Friday following the Rogers Cup women’s draw at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. 

“We all played in juniors together and now we’re here. It’s nice to see a new generation come up.”

Ostapenko, who won the French Open this year to shoot up to No. 12 in the world, will play a qualifier in the first round of the Canadian tournament, which runs from Aug. 5-13 at Aviva Centre. 

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Abanda, who reached a career-high on the WTA rankings at No. 120 in July, will open against No. 41 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. The Montreal up-and-comer is competing in the main draw at a Rogers Cup for the fourth time. 

“It’s definitely a different vibe playing at the Rogers Cup,” the 20-year-old Abanda said. “We have a lot of media, a lot of stuff to do off the court but it’s great to have the crowd with us and it’s a great atmosphere.

“Hopefully I can feed off the crowd.”

Canada’s top-ranked women’s singles player, Eugenie Bouchard, will also have to wait until the weekend to find out who she will face in her first-round matchup next week.

The Westmount, Que., native, ranked 73rd in the world, faces a yet-to-be-determined qualifier with the winner moving on to a potential match against world No. 3 Angelique Kerber in the second round.

Bouchard is looking to improve on her 2016 finish at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, when she was eliminated by qualifier Kristina Kucova in the third round — her best showing at the Canadian event.

Karolina Pliskova, who has risen up the standings from No. 14 to No. 1 over the last year, is the tournament’s top seed. The top eight players received a bye into the second round.

Some of the biggest names in women’s tennis — notably Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova — will be absent. Williams is out of competition as she awaits the birth of her first child while Sharapova dropped out Thursday with an injury.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., took Sharapova’s wild-card spot in the draw and will face Timea Babos of Hungary in the first round. The 17-year-old Andreescu is coming off an upset victory over Kristina Mladenovic in the second round of the Citi Open in Washington on Thursday.

Bouchard and Abanda are in the same quarter of the draw for the Rogers Cup, along with Kerber and No. 7 Johanna Konta. The two Canadians could potentially play each other in the fourth round.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing at home so I’m looking forward to it,” Abanda said. “I’ve had a lot of success at the Fed Cup but this is the Rogers Cup, it’s a different event and there’s a lot of tough players here.”

Defending champion Simona Halep of Romania has a bye into the second round along with Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain. 

Halep defeated American Madison Keys at last year’s event in Montreal. The two could face each other in the second round this year.

Wimbledon runner-up Venus Williams will also open against a qualifier with a potential second-round matchup against Muguruza.

Canadian Carol Zhao took Andreescu’s place in the qualifying tournament.

Five other Canadians — Gabriela Dabrowski, Alexandra Wozniak,  Katherine Sebov, Charlotte Robillard-Millette, and Carson Branstine — will be competing for one of 12 qualifier positions in the main draw. The qualifying tournament will be on Saturday and Sunday.

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press