Photo : @BNPPARIBASOPEN
The final weekend of tennis’ “fifth slam” lived up to its billing, with two familiar faces getting their hands on the trophies in Indian Wells.
A trio of women seems to be pulling away from the field on the WTA Tour, while the battle of generations continues to heat up on the men’s side.
For the Canadians, it was mostly a week of solid progress even if the results may not have been what they wanted. But they will need to be sharp after an unkind draw in Miami.
Here’s what you need to know.
In Case You Missed It: All Hail King Carlos, Rybakina’s Revenge
Both finals match-ups in Indian Wells came as little surprise to most fans.
For the women, it was a rematch of the Australian Open final, only with a reversed result as Elena Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win her first WTA 1000 title. She added a second win this year over world No. 1 Iga Świątek during the title run.
Both Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Annie Fernandez went down in the third round to Top 5 opponents, Świątek for Andreescu and Caroline Garcia for Fernandez, while Rebecca Marino fell in round one.
Read the full event recap on the National Bank Open website.
On the men’s side, Carlos Alcaraz put the injury questions to bed by winning his third Masters 1000 title, his first in Indian Wells, by snapping Daniil Medvedev’s 19-match winning streak in the final.
With the win, Alcaraz reclaims the top spot in the rankings.
Félix Auger-Aliassime was among the Spaniard’s victims in the desert, reaching his sixth consecutive Masters 1000 quarter-final before falling to the top seed. Denis Shapovalov bowed out in round two.
Just by reaching the quarter-finals, Auger-Aliassime returns to his career-high ranking of No. 6.
Read the full event recap on the National Bank Open website.
Speaking of rankings, Monday marks the first day since April 2005 where Rafael Nadal does not feature in the ATP Top 10. The 22-time Grand Slam champion fell out of the Top 10 after 912 weeks, by far the longest streak by a man.
Doubles saw some success for the Canadians as the all-Canadian pair of Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov reached the quarter-finals. Gabriela Dabrowski also reached the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles alongside Luisa Stefani.
What to Watch: Challenges in Miami for Canadian Women
Part two of the Sunshine Double begins this week on the opposite coast at the Miami Open, where any hopes of a pleasant winter getaway for the Canadian women has been dashed by the draw Gods.
Bianca Andreescu has it particularly bad, as she will meet former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in round one. Her reward for a win would be a second-round clash with seventh seed Maria Sakkari.
Rebecca Marino opens against Yulia Putintseva and would meet sixth seed Coco Gauff in round two.
Leylah Annie Fernandez has the most generous first-round clash as she will meet a qualifier, but would have to play ninth seed Belinda Bencic in the second round. Fernandez and Andreescu are in the same quarter.
All three Canadian women who received direct entry are unseeded. Katherine Sebov is still alive in qualifying, needing one more win to reach the main draw.
World No. 1 Iga Świątek is the top seed and defending champion. The entire WTA Top 10 is competing in Miami.
The draw has not yet been released for the men, but both Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are expected to play and will be seeded. Nine of the men’s Top 10, including the newly-minted world No. 1 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, will be competing. Only Novak Djokovic is absent.
Under the Radar: Hometown Hero
Two weeks after Katherine Sebov scored a win in her hometown, Gabriel Diallo followed suit by winning the ITF M25 event in Montreal.
It is a second ITF title and a third professional title for Diallo, as well as his second in his home province to go along with an ATP Challenger win in Granby last summer.
Diallo is back on the ATP Challenger Tour this week at an event in Biel, Switzerland.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
