Francoise Abanda stepped up to the plate in front of her home crowd on Tuesday night. She needed an hour and 38 minutes to put away Saisai Zheng, 6-1, 7-5. The win for the Canadian teenager marks as her first WTA tour-level win this year.
Canadian cruises to one-set advantage, saves six of six break points
Abanda and Zheng were originally scheduled to play on Banque Nationale before Garbiñe Muguruza announced her withdrawal from the Coupe Rogers. With the Spaniard's announcement, the Canadian-Chinese pair's match was moved to Central where they would play in front of a packed crowd. Abanda opened up the match with a lengthy hold despite facing two break points. The teen followed up her opene]ing hold with a break to immediately apply scoreboard pressure to the qualifier. An 18-point game followed and it was Abanda who closed to third game out for a three-love advantage.
The Canadian had seemed to be handling her nerves well, however, it would only get tougher considering she held all the momentum. Abanda held on tight as the players exchanged holds to 15 before the 19-year-old broke for the second time. Abanda closed out the opening set comprehensively as she had played the important points exceptionally well throughout the first seven games of the match.
Abanda steals second set for impressive win, biggest win since 2015
Just like she had done in the opening set, the teen started off the set in style. A break to love followed by a hold to 15 from the Canadian saw Zheng lack answers to overcome to the hard-hitting wildcard. However, the Chinese qualifier stayed within reach of Abanda with a strong hold. Zheng was not able to build off of her momentum and, yet again, the wildcard rolled on to clinch the next two games to take a commanding 6-1, 4-1 lead. The nerves and pressure were too much for the teen to handle as she dropped the following four games to Zheng.
Abanda was forced to serve to stay in the set after squandering her massive lead. She overcame adversity with a hold to 15 and brought the set to five games apiece. The Canadian wildcard followed her clutch hold with a convincing break to 15. She had crawled her way back on top and was to serve for the match. In the end, Abanda's power and depth got her across the finish line. Abanda's win over Zheng is considered her biggest win since beating Irina-Camelia Begu last April.
Wildcard to face Svitolina next, first career meeting on Wednesday
The 19-year-old will attempt to follow up her round one win. On Wednesday, Abanda takes on Elina Svitolina in the second match on Banque Nationale. It will be an intense battle of offense and defense with the better shot maker deemed to come out on top.