The Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic fervency may have abated a bit this year, after reaching recent highs for Canadian tennis, but both are young and the sport remains on the ascendancy in this country.
Case in point is the $10,000 Victoria International Women鈥檚 ITF tournament taking place this week, for the second consecutive year, at the Panorama Recreation Centre in North Saanich. The organizers and Tennis sa国际传媒 are looking to extend the arrangement for another three years. Last year鈥檚 was the first women鈥檚 ITF event held in sa国际传媒 since Vancouver in 2001 and the first in sa国际传媒 since Calgary in 2007.
鈥淲e have court-side seating and nice crowds have been out so far [at Panorama],鈥� said tournament director Eric Knoester.
The ITF is the development level in which players accumulate the ranking points they need to make it up to the big-league WTA. Only four years ago, the 2014 French Open semifinalist Bouchard was playing in such ITF tournaments.
As an indication of the level of players here this week, American Gail Brodsky from Brooklyn was ranked as high as No. 156 on the WTA Tour and played in the 2008 and 2009 U.S. Opens, losing in the first round both times. She also played in the qualifying rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon in 2012 and also coaches at the Northwest High Performance Tennis Center in Kirkland, Washington. Brodsky outlasted Ines Vial of Maryland, headed to the Big Ten to play tennis for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, 7-5, 6-3 in a highlighted opening match at Panorama.
鈥淭he prize money is nice, but it鈥檚 the WTA ranking points that are most important,鈥� said Knoester.
鈥淪ome of these players are in college while others have just graduated and are giving it a shot in the pro game.鈥�
All women鈥檚 U.S. collegiate NCAA Div. 1 tennis scholarships are full rides.
Lauren Chypyha from Mississauga, Ont., first-team all-Big Ten as a Wisconsin Badger, defeated Bess Waldram from Portland 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4) in the most drawn-out and dramatic first-round match. Waldram is the 2015 Oregon state high school champion as a Grade 11, whose NCAA plans include eventually playing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Seventh-ranked Khristina Blajkevitch of Victoria, who played NCAA for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, and Stacey Fung of Vancouver, a semifinalist last year, met Tuesday with Fung winning 7-6, 7-5 to advance.
Top-ranked for this ITF tournament is 19-year-old Naomi Totka of Hungary, 417th on the WTA rankings, who dispatched Canadian Sybella Garvin 6-1, 6-1.
Wendy Zhang, a native of Shanghai and Canadian player from Vancouver, defeated American Ashley Kratzer of the U.S. 6-4, 6-4 in another featured first-round match. Zhang just completed her freshman NCAA season for the University of Miami Hurricanes.
鈥淭here is no off-season in tennis. You鈥檙e always playing,鈥� she said.
Asked if she will play pro after college, Zhang said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know yet. It鈥檚 definitely an option.鈥�
The Victoria tournament began with qualifying last Sunday and runs through this Sunday. The singles draw of 32 continues today and Thursday with the quarter-finals Friday, semifinals Saturday and final Sunday, all beginning at 11 a.m. There is no admission charge.
Twelve WTA ranking points will go to the winner of the tournament.
As for tennis鈥� renewed popularity in sa国际传媒, Knoester doesn鈥檛 see a diminishment in interest. Raonic and Bouchard may have lit the recent fuse, now it鈥檚 taken on a life of its own and seems immune to how they fare week-to-week internationally.
鈥淭ennis summer camp registration numbers are going up . . . kids are wanting to play this sport,鈥� said Knoester.
