Tennis Canada – No. 1 seed Catherine Bellis and No. 4 seed Jesika Maleckova will clash in Sunday’s singles final

Toronto, November 5, 2016 – The final has been set for the $50,000 Tevlin Women’s Challenger, as American Catherine “CiCi” Bellis will take on Jesika Maleckova of Czech Republic in Sunday’s final at Aviva Centre in Toronto.

No. 4 seed Maleckova was the first to secure her spot in the championship match, after defeating Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-3 in Saturday’s first semifinal match.

“When I played the first round I was a bit tired and jet-lagged after coming from the Czech Republic,” Maleckova said. “I’ve tried to improve every match since and I think today was a very good match for me.”

Maleckova’s path to the final saw the 22-year old defeat Great Britain’s Katie Swan, Fanni Stollar of Hunagry, and American Nicole Frenkel, before meeting Mertens in the final four. Maleckova and Mertens sparred for an hour and nine minutes, before the 22-year old Czech completed the win to advance to her third final on the ITF Pro Circuit this season.

However, standing between Maleckova and the title is No. 1 seed Bellis. Bellis defeated fellow American Raveena Kingsley 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal. 17-year old Bellis needed just an hour and twenty-eight minutes to move on to her fourth ITF final of the year.

A win on Sunday would see Bellis capture back-to-back titles at $50,000 ITF events. In October, she defeated Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the National Bank Saguenay Challenger. Bellis also reached the quarter-finals of Quebec City’s WTA event in September, following her run to the third round of the US Open in September.

Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa) captured her fifth doubles title at the Tevlin Challenger with partner Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, with their 6-4, 6-3 victory over the all-American duo of Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey. The top-seeded team triumphed over the No. 2 seeds early Saturday afternoon in in Toronto.

“It was some of the more, ‘proper doubles tennis’ I would say. But well done to Caitlin [Weinhold] and Ashley [Whoriskey] this week,” Dabrowski said before thanking tournament sponsors, Mike and Nicole Tevlin. “Without them we wouldn’t be standing here right now. They’ve sponsored this tournament for many, many years and it’s always so well run.”

Dabrowski’s latest trophy at the 12^th edition of the Tevlin Challenger comes in addition to her Tevlin doubles victories in 2007 and through 2010-2012, and her singles championship win in 2014. The Ottawa native now holds 12 doubles titles on the ITF Pro Circuit, and she also captured her third WTA doubles title this season, at the Mallorca Open in June.
 

The $50,000 Tevlin Women’s Challenger singles final will be held at 1:00 PM on Sunday November 6. The impressive list of past champions includes former world No. 5 and Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard (2012), three-time WTA titlist Heather Watson (2010), 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki (2007), former world No. 21 Aleksandra Wozniak (2005), and last year’s winner Tatjana Maria of Germany. Admission to the public is free for the entire week. Please click here to view the full draw and order of play.

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, 10 professional ITF-sanctioned events and financially supports 12 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates national junior training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary. 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 website at www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
 
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