Today, Thursday the 29th of July, 13 young Canadian players start their pursuit for a place in the official qualifying draw at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal.
The pre-tournament event will give a chance to one of these young and promising Canadian women to compete against the highest ranked players in the world, as the qualifying draw is populated by players inside the Top 100.
The qualifying tournament winners will book a coveted place in the WTA 1000 tournament’s main draw, where the best tennis players in the world will fight for the ultimate prize and glory.
Concerning the players already in the qualifying stage, their current rankings are not the most exact measure to their talent, as some of them have been ranked inside the Top 20 and Top 10. Most notably, American Sloane Stephens, the 2016 US Open champion and former World No. 3, is present in the qualifying draw.
Learn more about the qualifying event here.
Who’s playing
You can see the full pre-qualifying draw here.
The top four seeds are:
| Seed | Name | Age | WTA Ranking |
| 1 | Raphaëlle Lacasse | 20 | 743 |
| 2 | Mélodie Collard | 18 | 1009 |
| 3 | Sarah-Maude Fortin | 19 | 1213 |
| 4 | Mia Kupres | 17 | 1691 |
The remaining field:
- Orly Ogilvy
- Tiffany Lagarde
- Sarah L’Allier
- Matea Roki
- Kayla Cross
- Josie Usereault
- Shereen Peterson-Paul
- Rhea Verma
- Cadence Brace
What are they playing for
The Canadian women will be playing for a chance to qualify to the official qualifying draw of the National Bank Open. The qualifying tournament, played on Aug 7-8 at IGA Stadium, consists of another two matches that are must-win in order to enter the main competition starting on Monday, August 9.
However, while the qualifying tournament will see several players guaranteed a place in the main draw, the pre-qualifying tournament will give a spot in the qualifying to one single player. This means that the tournament will have a first round, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final match where the winner takes it all.
When will it happen
Today there will be five first-round matches played. With 13 players, the top-three seeded players receive a BYE in the opening round and will therefore start their campaign on Friday in the quarter-finals.
The semi-finals will be played on Saturday, July 31, and the tournament is set to finish on Sunday, August 1.
You can check the full order of play for today right here.
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