Tennis Canada – Abanda, Andreescu, and Robillard-Millette will play the Americas Zone Group I event

Montreal, January 10, 2017 – Tennis Canada announced Tuesday the players who will represent Canada at the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group I event in Metepec, Mexico from February 6-12, 2017.

Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC), Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (Mississauga, ON), and Charlotte Robillard-Millette (Blainville, QC) have been selected by captain Sylvain Bruneau.

“We will rely on our next generation of players for these ties,” Bruneau said. “Eugenie Bouchard and Aleksandra Wozniak both made their Fed Cup debuts at a young age and the experience helped them in their development. I think it will be the same for Bianca, Charlotte, and Françoise, who will be the leader of the group. I have confidence in them.”

After making her debut in 2015, Abanda will be making her fifth Fed Cup appearance. In April of 2015 against Romania, the 19-year-old upset Irina-Camelia Begu who was ranked no. 33 in the world at the time. Last February, Abanda beat then world no. 74 Olga Govortsova against Belarus and defeated world no. 124 Jana Cepelova against Slovakia in April. Abanda is currently ranked no. 176 on the WTA rankings and has won three ITF Challenger titles in her young career.

Bianca Vanessa Andreescu will be making her Fed Cup debut in Mexico at 16 years of age. Currently ranked no. 292 in the world, she was crowned champion of the Gatineau National Bank Challenger last summer and reached the final of the Saguenay National Bank Challenger a few months later. In 2016, she also reached the semifinals of the junior U.S. Open and reached a career-high of no. 3 on the world junior rankings.

For her part, Charlotte Robillard-Millette will be making her third appearance in Fed Cup for Canada. Robillard-Millette, who will turn 18 on Thursday, won her first Fed Cup match last April against Slovakia in the doubles rubber. She was also part of the Canadian quartet that faced the Czech Republic in the opening round of World Group I in 2015.  

In 2016, Canada fell to Belarus in the first round of World Group II and lost again to Slovakia in their World Group II playoff to be relegated to Americas Zone Group I for 2017.

Participating nations will be divided into groups of four teams each. The winning countries in each group will faceoff for a spot in the World Group II playoffs in April of this year while the bottom two nations will be relegated to Americas Zone Group II for 2018.

About Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with 101 nations entered in 2016. The competition is 53 years old having been founded in 1963. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Fed Cup. International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Adecco (Official HR Sponsor) and Betway (Official Betting Sponsor). beIN SPORTS is the Official Global Media Rights Partner. Follow all the action on www.fedcup.com, www.fedcup.com/es,www.twitter.com/fedcup, www.facebook.com/FedCup, www.Weibo.com/fedcupofficial and www.fedcup.tv.
 
About Tennis Canada

Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, 8 professional ITF sanctioned events and financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates junior national training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our Web site at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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