Raonic To Play Gulbis In Round Two At Monte-Carlo Masters

Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) kicked off his clay court season yesterday at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, a prestigious Masters 1000 event on the ATP World Tour. He opened in winning fashion, earning his first career ATP clay court victory.

The 20-year-old Canadian defeated Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 to advance to the second round. The win is already Raonic’s third career victory over the Frenchman, ranked no. 25 in the world, and second this season. On Tuesday, Raonic will face world no. 30 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. It will be the first meeting between the two players. Gulbis defeated Ukraine’s Alexander Dolgopolov 6-1, 6-4 to reach round two.

Bouchard wins another Challenger event

Last week, Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) was in Sibernik, Croatia for a $10,000 Challenger tournament and collected her third title of 2011 and second at the pro level. Seeded second in the draw, Bouchard lost just one set en route to the final where she defeated French qualifier Jessica Ginier 6-2, 6-0.

Pelletier and Fichman capture doubles title in Jackson

Marie-Ève Pelletier (Repentigny, QC) and Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON) were the top-seeded team in doubles at the $25,000 River Hills USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Jackson, Mississippi last week. The Canadian duo took home the title thanks to a 7-6(1), 7-6(3) triumph over Natalie Piquion of France and Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic. The win is Pelletier’s 16th ITF doubles crown of her career and second in as many weeks. Meanwhile, Fichman picks up her eighth career doubles title on the pro circuit.

Week of preparation for Canada’s Fed Cup team

Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC), Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC), Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON) and Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) are in Koper, Slovenia preparing for Canda’s upcoming World Group II Fed Cup by BNP Paribas playoff tie against Slovenia this weekend. The girls will spend the next several days refining their clay court games before the matches start on Saturday. The draw will be held on Friday. On the men’s side, Philip Bester (Vancouver, BC), Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON), Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (Saint Foy, QC) and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC) are in Tallahassee, Florida this week to compete in a $50,000 Challenger.

Rogers Junior Nationals wrap up

The U14 and U18 Rogers Junior National Championship finals were held over the weekend. In Vancouver at the U14 event, Ontario’s Charlotte Petrick and Alejandro Tabilo were crowned champions. Meanwhile, in Markham, Ontario, two members of Tennis Canada’s NTC program, Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC) and Filip Peliwo (Vancouver, BC), took home top honours at the U18 tournament.

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In Case You Missed It

USTA Member Appreciation Day

All USTA members will receive advance priority access to single session Loge tickets beginning Monday, June 11th at 10:00am from the UCLA Central Ticket Office.

Sven’s Postcards – Amstelveen with Rodrigo

Rodrigo is staying close to the academy in the forest of Amsterdam. He and his player use local transport in order to go from A to B in Amsterdam. We also payed a visit to tennis direct to pick up some strings from our sponsor Toalson.

NINTENDO PARTNERS WITH THE USTA IN ITS SMASHZONE MOBILE TOUR

The USTA announced today that Nintendo has signed on as an Official Sponsor of the SmashZone Mobile Tour, the interactive tennis fan attraction which introduces children to tennis in a fun and engaging way.

Bryans Bounce Back With 54-Minute Win

Second seeds and two-time former champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan bounced back from last week's opening-round loss at the Mutua Madrid Open

WTA Looking for Host of WTA Championships

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced the launch of an international tender process to find the host city for its year-end WTA Championships for 2014 and beyond.