As the tennis season winds down, the Canadian Fall swing has one final stop in La Belle Province. This week, the calendar shifts to the ninth edition of the Challenger Banque Nationale Drummondville, featuring a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw.
Fresh off his M25 Saint-Augustin title, Liam Draxl is one of several Canadians poised to make a deep run. Laval-native Alexis Galarneau, too, should receive strong support from the Quebecois crowd.
Duckworth is top seed, Draxl among six Canadians in Main Draw
Veteran James Duckworth returns to Drummondville for the second consecutive year, entering as the tournament’s top seed. Currently No. 77 on the ATP circuit, the 32-year-old finished runner-up last year in Drummondville, falling in the final to Belgium’s Zizou Bergs. Duckworth has had a strong season, capturing the Hangzhou Challenger title last month and reaching the quarter-finals in Stuttgart earlier this summer on grass.
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Newmarket-native Draxl is set to compete in his opening-round match against Germany’s Michael Geerts. The 22-year-old has been on an impressive run lately, winning 13 of his last 14 matches since mid-October, while collecting singles titles in Edmonton and Saint-Augustin.
Alexis Galarneau, the highest-ranked Canadian in the singles draw at No. 216, will open his Drummondville campaign against Britain’s Alastair Gray. The 25-year-old recently finished as runner-up in Saint-Augustin, losing to Draxl in the final, 6-1, 6-3. Following Drummondville, Galarneau will head to Spain to represent Canada at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
Elsewhere in the draw, 20-year-old Jaden Weekes, who reached the semifinals last week before falling to Draxl, will look to build on his form. He’ll face No. 4 seed James Kent Trotter of Japan in his first match. Juan Carlos Aguilar faces Brazil’s Karue Sell in his opening round.
Veteran Vasek Pospisil already suffered a tough first-round loss to No. 5 seed Facundo Mena, while 17-year-old Nicholas Arseneault lost in his first-round match on Monday to Denmark’s Joel Schwaerzler.
Four All-Canadian Teams in Doubles
Despite his early singles exit, Arseneault will team up with his brother Mikael in doubles, with the duo receiving a wildcard into the tournament. Draxl, seeded third in doubles, will partner with countryman Cleeve Harper. The two have won three titles together this season, including the Sioux Falls Challenger last month.
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Justin Boulais will pair with Aguilar for the fourth time this season. They reached the quarter-finals last week in Saint-Augustin. Additionally, Benjamin Thomas George and Alvin Nicholas Tudorica are set to compete, coming off a runner-up finish at the M25 Edmonton.