INDIAN WELLS – A week out of the Indian Wells qualies, Quebecer Françoise Abanda was quite a ways out.
But the ranks have a tendency to thin close to the tournament, and the 20-year-old made it with room to spare.
She’s not exactly on a roll, having dealt with back issues in Australia (where she lost in the second round of qualifying to Taylor Townsend) She was off the court for a month and returned at a small event in Arizona, where she lost in the first round. Abanda also lost in the first round of qualifying at the WTA Tour event in Acapulco last week.
Her opponent will be No. 7 seed Evgeniya Rodina of Russia. There are only two rounds of qualifying and if she can get through that one, she would face either Mona Barthel of Germany or American Maria Sanchez.
Notably – she is in desert without a coach.
Here’s what she looked like during a session with Kateryna Bondarenko. The wind was howling – all pretense of lob and smash practice was pretty much gone with the wind.
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