Canadians Lagaev, Dong Gear Up For Repentigny ITF Junior Event – Tennis Canada

Canada’s most significant ITF Junior event, the J300 Repentigny National Bank Junior Tennis Championships will get underway on Sunday with some of the nation’s best juniors in action. 

Canadians Nadia Lagaev and Emma Dong lead the host contingent in the girls draw. 

Lagaev, who was named Tennis Canada’s Junior Player of the Year in 2023, is currently the top-ranked Canadian in juniors. Last season, she won two J100 events and has already surpassed her result this season by winning a J200 event in Woodbridge, Ontario. British Columbia’s Dong, who trains out of the National Tennis Centre presented by Rogers in Montreal, will be making her debut at the ITJR. She’s enjoying a terrific 2024 season, having won three J100 events, all in a row. 

The two are in the same section of the draw and could meet in the third round, although they will each have to defeat a seed to do so. Dong opens against Noemi Basiletti of Italy and would play No. 13 Lilli Tagger of Austria in round two. Lagaev faces qualifier American Katerina Shabashkevich and would then have to go through second seed Wakana Sonobe to get to the third round. 

In total, 12 Canadian girls are competing in the singles draw in Repentigny, although eight lost over the weekend. 14 are competing in doubles, with six all-Canadian teams in the draw. Dong is playing with Shiyu Ye of China, while Lagaev is partnering with fellow Canadian Charlize Celebrini. 

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15-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain will be the tournament’s top seed. Despite her young age, she has been playing professionally in addition to junior competitions since last year and even reached the third round of qualifying at this year’s Wimbledon with wins over Croatia’s Petra Marcinko and Czechia’s Linda Fruhvirtova. Klugman, No. 9 in the world junior rankings, will be joined by fellow Top 20 players Sonobe of Japan (No. 10), compatriot Mingge Xu (No. 11), and American Kristina Penickova (No. 12).  

On the boy’s side, another dozen Canadians made it into the main draw. They are led by top-ranked Canadian junior Nicolas Arseneault, who faces Jacopo Vasami in the first round and could meet No. 16 seed Viktor Frydrych in round two. His twin Mikael is also in the singles draw and the brothers are teaming up in the doubles draw, one of seven all-Canadian teams. 

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Holland’s Mees Rottgering, world No. 6 in juniors, leads the boys’ player field in Repentigny. He finished runner-up at this year’s Wimbledon junior event, besting the likes of Australian Hayden Jones and Frenchman Theo Papamalamis, who are seeded No. 3 and No. 4 in Repentigny respectively. Rottgering also recently reached the semifinals of an ITF M25 tournament in Wetzlar, Germany. Maxim Mrva of Czechia, who won a J500 event earlier this season in Offenbach, Germany, will be the tournament’s No. 2 seed.  

The Repentigny tournament has welcomed some of tennis’ most renowned players over the years, including former champions Britain’s Andy Murray, current WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, and Canadian Bianca Andreescu. 

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“August is always a fun one in our tennis calendar, seeing the top professionals at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers to start the month and then the best young prospects in the world in Repentigny to close it out,” said ITJR tournament director Francis Milloy. “Once again this year, the player field is quite strong, with many of the top junior players poised to take to the courts at Parc Larochelle, as well as a number of Canadians in both the main draws and the qualifying draws.” 

Tennis enthusiasts and sports fans are invited to come down to the Parc Larochelle to watch the spectacular display of skill and passion at the Repentigny National Bank Junior Tennis Championships. Admission is free!