Preview Notes: National Bank Open Montréal, Canada | August 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | Wta 1000
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PREVIEW NOTES: NATIONAL BANK OPEN MONTRÉAL, CANADA | AUGUST 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | WTA 1000 WTA Website: www.wtatennis.com | @WTA | facebook.com/wta Tournament Website: www.omniumbanquenationale.com | @OBNMontreal | facebook.com/obnmontreal WTA Communications: Bryan Shapiro ([email protected]), Jessica Culbreath ([email protected]) You can now download the WTA’s new live scoring app to receive real time match and tournament updates from across the Tour. In addition to play-by-play score updates, WTA Scores offer the latest rankings and the Porsche Race to Shenzhen Leaderboard, as well as match stats provided by SAP, draw sheets and daily orders of play. WTA Scores is available on iOS and Android devices and can be downloaded on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. NATIONAL BANK OPEN – QUICK FACTS Main draw dates: Monday, August 9 – Sunday, August 15, 2021 Singles Final: Sunday, August 15, 1.30pm Doubles Final: Sunday, August 15, after singles final Venue: IGA Stadium Status: WTA 1000 Draw sizes: 56 singles / 28 doubles teams / 32 singles qualifying Surface: Hard / Outdoors Tennis Ball: Wilson US Open Regular Duty SINGLES $ RANK POINTS Winner 221,500 900 Runner-Up 164,000 585 Semifinalist 87,000 350 Quarterfinalist 41,500 190 Round of 16 21,000 105 Round of 32 13,300 60 Round of 56 10,750 1 MAIN DRAW QUICK-HITS Wildcards: Leylah Fernandez (CAN), Simona Halep (ROU), Rebecca Marino (CAN), Sloane Stephens (USA), Carol Zhao (CAN) Most Career WTA singles titles: Petra Kvitova (28) Prize Money Leader: Simona Halep ($37,581,677) Youngest singles player: Coco Gauff, 17 years old (March 13, 2004) Oldest singles player: Zhang Shuai, 32 years old (January 21, 1989) Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 1 PREVIEW NOTES: NATIONAL BANK OPEN MONTRÉAL, CANADA | AUGUST 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | WTA 1000 TOURNAMENT TALKING POINTS • This first WTA 1000 event of the North American summer hard-court swing takes place at the IGA Stadium in central Montréal • The tournament, which rotates between Montréal and Toronto, features four former champions in this year’s draw: Petra Kvitova (2012), Simona Halep (2016, 2018), Elina Svitolina (2017) and Bianca Andreescu (2019) • Joining them will be Top-10 trio, Aryna Sabalenka, Karolina Pliskova and Garbiñe Muguruza • The leading eight seeds all receive a first-round bye, although there will be no shortage of intriguing match-ups over the opening few days. Arguably the pick of the opening matches is 2018 runner-up Sloane Stephens’ encounter with the returning Dayana Yastremska, who will be playing for the right to take on top seed Sabalenka • Montréal marks the return to action for Halep, who has not played since retiring from Rome in May with a calf injury. The Romanian will face either Danielle Collins or Jil Teichmann in the second round • In addition to Andreescu, the home contingent is bolstered by the presence of Leylah Fernandez, Rebecca Marino and Carol Zhao. Fernandez has been drawn with a qualifier in the first round and should she prevail then a showdown with Andreescu awaits • One to Watch – Danielle Collins. After missing much of the spring clay court season, Collins has been making up for lost time in recent months. Upon the Tour’s brief return to the terre battue in July, the American made the last eight in Hamburg, a semifinal run at Budapest and then capped it off with a maiden WTA title at Palermo. Success has followed on the other side of the Atlantic, too, another deep run, this time on home soil at San Jose, edging her closer to a return to the Top 30 TOP 4 SEEDS’ TOURNAMENT HISTORY* WIN PLAYER TOURNAMENT HISTORY W/L % 3r (1): 2018 (l. Mertens) 2-2 .500 [1] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 1r (1): 2019 (l. Pavlyuchenkova) [2] Bianca Andreescu (CAN) WON (1): 2019 (d. S.Williams in F) 6-1 .857 1r (1): 2017 (l. Babos) [3] Elina Svitolina (UKR) WON (1): 2017 (d. Wozniacki in F) 12-4 .750 SF (1): 2018 (l. Stephens) QF (1): 2019 (l. Kenin) 3r (1): 2016 (l. Kerber) 1r (1): 2015 (l. Azarenka) [4] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) QF (2): 2017 (l. Wozniacki), 2019 (l. Andreescu) 7-6 .538 3r (1): 2016 (l. Halep) 2r (2): 2014 (l. Suárez Navarro), 2018 (l. Bertens) 1r (1): 2015 (l. Lucic-Baroni) *Main draw matches only Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 2 PREVIEW NOTES: NATIONAL BANK OPEN MONTRÉAL, CANADA | AUGUST 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | WTA 1000 COUNTRY & REGION BREAKDOWN Not including qualifiers, a total of 23 countries and regions are represented in the main draw, led by the United States with seven players: Argentina (1) Nadia Podoroska Australia (1) Ajla Tomljanovic Belarus (2) Victoria Azarenka, Aryna Sabalenka Belgium (1) Elise Mertens Canada (4) Bianca Andreescu, Leylah Fernandez, Rebecca Marino, Carol Zhao China (1) Zhang Shuai Croatia (2) Petra Martic, Donna Vekic Czech Republic (5) Marie Bouzkova, Petra Kvitova, Karolina Muchova, Karolina Pliskova, Katerina Siniakova Estonia (1) Anett Kontaveit France (1) Fiona Ferro Great Britain (1) Johanna Konta Greece (1) Maria Sakkari Italy (1) Camila Giorgi Kazakhstan (2) Yulia Putintseva, Elena Rybakina Latvia (2) Jelena Ostapenko, Anastasija Sevastova Poland (1) Magda Linette Romania (2) Sorana Cirstea, Simona Halep Russia (4) Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Liudmila Samsonova Spain (3) Paula Badosa, Garbiñe Muguruza, Sara Sorribes Tormo Switzerland (2) Viktorija Golubic, Jil Teichmann Tunisia (1) Ons Jabeur Ukraine (2) Elina Svitolina, Dayana Yastremska United States (7) Danielle Collins, Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Alison Riske, Shelby Rogers, Sloane Stephens Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 3 PREVIEW NOTES: NATIONAL BANK OPEN MONTRÉAL, CANADA | AUGUST 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | WTA 1000 A SNAPSHOT OF 2021 SO FAR • Top 10 debuts (1): Iga Swiatek (at No.9 on May 17) • Fewest games dropped en route to a title: Paula Badosa (20, Belgrade) • Lowest-ranked player to triumph: Elena-Gabriela Ruse (No.198, Hamburg) • Youngest title winner: Coco Gauff, Parma (17y 70d) • Oldest title winner: Angelique Kerber, Bad Homburg (33) • Aces leaders: Ashleigh Barty - 255, Aryna Sabalenka - 241, Karolina Pliskova - 233, Ons Jabeur – 209 • Most aces in a match (21): Karolina Pliskova (d. Ostapenko 6-7(9) 6-4 6-3 – Stuttgart, 2r) • Most singles titles (4): Ashleigh Barty (Yarra Valley Classic, Miami, Stuttgart, Wimbledon) • Most doubles titles (4): Aoyama/Shibahara (Abu Dhabi, Yarra Valley Classic, Miami, Eastbourne), Krejcikova/Siniakova (Gippsland Trophy, Madrid, Roland Garros, Olympics) • Most Top 10 wins (6): Ashleigh Barty (No.8 Sabalenka, No.5 Svitolina and No.9 Andreescu at Miami, No.9 Ka.Pliskova, No.5 Svitolina and No.7 Sabalenka at Stuttgart); Jessica Pegula (No.5 Svitolina at Australian Open,No.6 Pliskova at Doha, No.6 at Dubai, No.6 Pliskova at Miami, No.2 Osaka at Rome and No.10 Pliskova at Berlin • Longest Match: 3h 55m – Kristina Kucova d. Ekaterine Gorgodze 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 7-6(3) (Gdynia QF) THIS SEASON’S WTA TOUR FINALS Week of Level Tournament Singles Final Doubles Final January 6 WTA 500 Abu Dhabi, UAE [4] Sabalenka d. Kudermetova 62 62 Aoyama/Shibahara d. Carter/Stefani January 31 WTA 500 Yarra Valley Classic, AUS [1] Barty d. [6] Muguruza 76(3) 64 Aoyama/Shibahara d. Kalinskaya/Kuzmova WTA 500 Gippsland Trophy, AUS [7] Mertens d. Kanepi 64 61 Krejcikova/Siniakova d. Chan/Chan WTA 500 Grampians Trophy, AUS [6] Kontaveit/Li (final not played due to scheduling) February 8 GS Australian Open, AUS [3] Osaka d. [22] Brady 64 63 Mertens/Sabalenka d. Krejcikova/Siniakova February 13 WTA 250 Phillip Island Trophy, AUS Kasatkina d. [13] Bouzkova 46 62 62 Raina/Rakhimova d. Blinkova/Potapova February 22 WTA 500 Adelaide, AUS [5] Swiatek d. [2] Bencic 62 62 Guarachi/Krawczyk d. Carter/Stefani March 1 WTA 500 Doha, QAT [4] Kvitova d. Muguruza 62 61 Melichar/Schuurs d. Niculescu/Ostapenko WTA 250 Lyon, FRA [Q] Tauson d. [Q] Golubic 64 61 Kuzmova/Rus d. Bouchard/Danilovic March 8 WTA 1000 Dubai, UAE [9] Muguruza d. Krejcikova 76(6) 63 Guarachi/Jurak d. Xu/Yang WTA 250 Guadalajara, MEX [4] Sorribes Tormo d. [WC] Bouchard 62 75 Perez/Sharma d. Krawczyk/Olmos March 15 WTA 500 St. Petersburg, RUS [8] Kasatkina d. [WC] Gasparyan 63 21 ret. Kichenok/Olaru d. Christian/Santamaria WTA 250 Monterrey, MEX Fernandez d. [Q] Golubic 61 64 Dolehide/Muhammad d. Watson/Zheng March 23 WTA 1000 Miami, FL, USA [1] Barty d. [8] Andreescu 63 40 (Ret) Aoyama/Shibahara d. Carter/Stefani April 5 WTA 500 Charleston, SC, USA [15] Kudermetova d. Kovinic 64 62 Melichar/Schuurs d. Bouzkova/Hradecka WTA 250 Bogota, COL [WC] Osorio S d. [5] Zidansek 57 63 64 Lechemia/Neel d. Buzarnescu/Friedsam April 12 WTA 250 Charleston, SC, USA Sharma d. [1] Jabeur 26 75 61 Baptise/McNally d. Perez/Sanders Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 4 PREVIEW NOTES: NATIONAL BANK OPEN MONTRÉAL, CANADA | AUGUST 9-15, 2021 | $1,835,490 | WTA 1000 April 19 WTA 500 Stuttgart, GER [1] Barty d. [5] Sabalenka 36 60 63 Barty/Brady d. Krawczyk/Mattek-Sands WTA 250 Istanbul, TUR Cirstea d. [1] Mertens 61 76(3) Kudermetova/Mertens d. Hibino/Ninomiya May 3 WTA 1000 Madrid, ESP [5] Sabalenka d. [1] Barty 60 36 64 Krejcikova/Siniakova d. Dabrowski/Schuurs May 10 WTA 1000 Rome, ITA [15] Swiatek d. [9] Ka.Pliskova 60 60 Fichman/Olmos d.