– Canadian Bianca Andreescu to move into main draw
– Carol Zhao receives qualifying wild card
Toronto, August 3, 2017 – Tennis Canada announced Thursday that five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will miss the 2017 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto due to injury. Sharapova suffered from pain in her left forearm earlier this week at the WTA event in Stanford and was forced to withdraw.
“I am so sorry to be missing Rogers Cup this year,” Sharapova said. “I am so appreciative to the tournament for the wild card and my fans in Toronto for their support. I am disappointed that injury is keeping me from the tennis court once again, and I will work as hard as I can to return to the game I love as soon as possible.”
Taking Sharapova’s place will be 17-year-old Canadian rising star Bianca Andreescu of Toronto, who originally had received a qualifying wild card. Andreescu is currently competing in Washington, where she earned her first WTA main draw victory earlier this week. There will now be three Canadians in the Rogers Cup main draw, with Andreescu joining Eugenie Bouchard and Francoise Abanda.
The open qualifying wild card will now be given to Canadian Carol Zhao. The final qualifying wild card will go to either Charlotte Robillard-Millette or Carson Branstine, who are facing off on Thursday in the pre-qualifying tournament final.
“We wish Maria the best and hope she is able to return to the court 100 per cent healthy soon,” said Karl Hale, Rogers Cup Toronto tournament director. “We know many of our fans were excited to see her play, but we have a fabulous line-up of athletes coming to Toronto next week with all of the Top 10 players in the world, including defending champion Simona Halep and Venus Williams, plus Genie Bouchard and all of our Canadians. Our spectators are in for an amazing week of tennis and entertainment.”
Owned and operated by Tennis Canada, Rogers Cup presented by National Bank is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the women’s tournament this year, welcoming the best players of the WTA from August 5-13 at Aviva Centre in Toronto. As a not-for-profit organization, Tennis Canada invests all net proceeds from the tournament right back into growing the sport of tennis across Canada. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit rogerscup.com.
