Monday Digest: Canadians Opening 2025 with Big Results

Photo : ATP Tour

The 2025 tennis season is off to an incredible start for Canada.

In 2024, Canadian fans had to wait until the final week of the season to get a singles title on the main tour. This year, they got one in the second week of January. And Félix Auger-Aliassime’s title was one of five won by Canadians last week.

Talk about kicking off the year on a high note. Here’s what you need to know.

In Case You Missed It: Auger-Aliassime Shines in the Aussie Sun

Félix Auger-Aliassime wasted no time in putting his title-less 2024 season behind him. In his first regular ATP Tour event of the new year, the Canadian claimed the title at the Adelaide International. It was his first victory since Basel in October 2023.

On his way to the title, he defeated France’s Arthur Cazaux followed by three straight Americans: Marcos Giron, top seed Tommy Paul, and Sebastian Korda in three sets in the final. The title is the sixth of Auger-Aliassime’s career and first outdoors.

Denis Shapovalov was also competing in Adelaide. He beat Zhizhen Zhang in straight sets in the first round before falling to Giron in round two.

Leylah Annie Fernandez was competing on the WTA side in Adelaide but lost in the first round of both the singles, having come through qualifying, and doubles.

Gabriel Diallo was competing at the ATP 250 event in Auckland. He lost a three-set thriller to Lorenzo Sonego in the first round.

Click here for more news and results from the ATP and WTA Tours.

What to Watch: Slam Season is Here

The first Grand Slam event of 2025, the Australian Open, is already underway in Melbourne.

Seven Canadians are competing at the year’s first major, with two having already played their opening matches.

Leylah Annie Fernandez and Félix Auger-Aliassime both got off to winning starts at Melbourne Park, winning their first-round matches over Yuliia Starodubtseva and Jan-Lennard Struff respectively.

Gabriel Diallo, Rebecca Marino and Denis Shapovalov will all play their first-round singles matches on Tuesday. Diallo’s match is at 11 am in Melbourne, 7 pm EST Monday night in Canada. Marino and Shapovalov are both scheduled fourth on their respective match courts.

Click here to read about the Canadians’ singles draws at the Australian Open.

Three Canadians are also competing in doubles.

Fernandez is the lone Canadian pulling double-duty. She is teaming up with Nadiia Kichenok in doubles. The pair are seeded 16th and will face local wildcards Talia Gibson and Maya Joint in the first round. They could meet top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the third round.

Gabriela Dabrowski is opening her season in Melbourne. She and Erin Routliffe will be competing in their first event together since winning the WTA Finals in November. They are seeded second and will face the American pair of Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk in the first round.

Their first seeded opponents could be No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegemund in the third round.

On the men’s side, Vasek Pospisil is the lone Canadian representative. He is teaming up with doubles world No. 3 Jordan Thompson. They open against Gregoire Jacq and Orlando Luz and could face 13^th seeds Sander Gille and Jan Zielinski in round two. The fourth-seed German powerhouses Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz loom in round three.

Under the Radar: Double Delight for Mboko

It was not just Félix Auger-Aliassime bringing home the hardware as Canadians managed to pick up another four titles on the ITF Tour.

The big star was 18-year-old Victoria Mboko, who stormed to her fourth professional singles title at the W35 event in Le Lamentin, Martinique without dropping a set. She won the first three sets of her run 6-0 before her second-round opponent finally got on the board in the second set of their match.

Mboko won an all-Canadian semifinal against Cadence Brace 7-6(4), 6-2 before clinching the title with a win over No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue of the United States 7-5, 6-3. The young Canadian has now won at least one singles title for four consecutive years.

She and Brace also teamed up to win the doubles title in Le Lamentin. They knocked off three of the top four seeded teams on their way to the final, capping it off with a 6-2, 7-6(2) win over the top seeds Olivia Lincer of Poland and Ngounoue. It was the first professional doubles title for both Canadian women.

Katherine Sebov won her first title since lifting the trophy in Saguenay in October 2023 at the W35 event in Naples, Florida. It was her fifth ITF singles title overall.

She kicked off her campaign with a win over her second-seeded compatriot Carson Branstine, won a thrilling semifinal against fourth-seed Elizabeth Mandlik 7-5 in the third set, before cruising through the final, beating Jessica Pieri of Italy 6-2, 6-0.

Finally, Juan Carlos Aguilar picked up a win on the ITF men’s tour, claiming the doubles title with Australia’s Kody Pearson. The top-seeded pair had to battle through a couple of match tiebreaks but cruised in the final, beating the tandem from Barbados of Darian King and Stephen Slocombe 6-3, 6-3 for the title, the 14^th of Aguilar’s career.

Liam Draxl nearly made it six titles for the Canadians last week, reaching the final of the ATP Challenger event in Oeiras, Portugal, but lost to Hamad Medjedovic.

Rob Shaw got his 2025 season underway on the ITF wheelchair circuit at an event in Melbourne. He reached the quarter-finals of the quad singles and the final of the quad doubles with Heath Davidson, losing in straight sets to Francisco Cayulef and Gonzalo Enrique Lazarte.

This week, four Canadian men including two of the squad for Canada’s upcoming Davis Cup tie in Montreal, Draxl and Alexis Galarneau, are competing at a second ATP Challenger in Oeiras. Sebov, Mboko, and Aguilar are also all competing again, looking for a second title in as many weeks.

You can follow the Canadians in action every week here. 

Tickets for the Davis Cup Qualifiers 1^st Round tie between Canada and Hungary are now on sale. Join us February 1 and 2 at IGA Stadium in Montreal, as the Canadian team begins their quest for the 2025 Davis Cup Final 8. To access tickets at early-bird pricing, click here.

Written By

Pete Borkowski