Fernandez, Auger-Aliassime lead Canadian contingent into Wimbledon

Five Canadians — three women and two men — will compete in the singles competition at Wimbledon. Canada's Marina Stakusic returns the ball to Spain's Rebeka Masarova during their group stage tennis match between Spain and Canada on the second day of the Billie Jean King Cup finals at La Cartuja stadium in Seville, southern Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Manu Fernandez

LONDON — Five Canadians — three women and two men — are part of the singles competition draw at Wimbledon, which was announced Friday.

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime, the top Canadian seed in singles play at No. 17, opens the men's draw against Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., faces No. 19 Nicolas Jarry of Chile.

Leylah Fernandez, of Laval, Que., seeded 30th in the women's draw, opens against Italy's Lucia Bronzetti. Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., will meet Romania's Jaqueline Cristian in her first match, while 19-year-old Marina Stakusic, also from Mississauga, makes her Grand Slam debut against No. 27 Katerina Siniakova of Czechia.

Singles play gets underway Monday at the All England Club.

In doubles play, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday, the second-seeded women's team of Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe meet Russia's Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova in the first round, while Fernandez and partner Ena Shibahara of Japan play China's Xinyu Jiang and Hanyu Guo.

In the men's draw, Shapovalov teams up with Kokkinakis to take on Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Nicolas Mahut of France in Round 1.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press