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The 2025 tennis season might be coming to a close. But the hardy Canadians brought home a LOT of hardware this past week.
Foremost among them was Félix Auger-Aliassime, who announced his quest to qualify for the ATP Tour Finals with third title of the season in Brussels.
Earlier in the day, Leylah Fernandez did the same, notching her second title of 2025 in Osaka.
We’ll have to dig. But from here I think we can state with relative certainty that two Canadians winning top-level singles titles on the same day has never happened.
But they were hardly alone. A lot of their compatriots had a great week.
Down in Tampico, Mexico – friendly Canuckian territory – Kayla Cross won the doubles title at the WTA 125 there with British partner Amelia Rajecki.
And Cadence Brace, who is Cross’s teammate at Louisiana State University, made it all the way to the singles final.
In Quebec City, Alexandra Vagramov and Raphaelle Lacasse took the doubles title at the $30K ITF there.
Here is the entire list of Canadians who played last week, and how they did.
This week? Well, it’s complicated
As if the tennis gods wanted to right the ship somehow, this coming week has turned out to be one to curse the draw gods.
First, Auger-Aliassime drew his longtime friend Gabriel Diallo in the first round of the ATP 500 in Basel.
They have never met at any level – not even the juniors, not even the 10-and-unders. Although only a year separates them, Auger-Aliassime was a prodigy as a kid and always played up against older kids.
Auger-Aliassime stands No. 9 in the race for Turin and is looking to nail down a spot. Diallo, who was a finalist in Almaty, Kazakhstan a year ago but lost in the second round this, lost six spots in the rankings and is now at No. 41.
He’ll be looking to finish the season strongly, to try to make sure he’s seeded at the Australian Open.
Musical chairs in Tokyo
If that wasn’t enough, there was the insanity in Tokyo.
The first piece of bad luck was when Victoria Mboko – who has lost her opening match in all four tournaments she’s played since winning the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal – drew … Fernandez in the first round.
Tough one for both. And Bianca Andreescu, who has won just one match since the ‘s-Hertogenbosch grass-court tournament in early June – and that was the match where she injured her ankle – drew No. 5 seed Belinda Bencic.
Neither was a good outcome.
But then it got a bit surreal.
When No. 1 seed Jasmine Paolini qualified for the WTA Finals with her effort in Ningbo, she immediately withdrew from Tokyo; no need to play it, the spot was in the bag.
But that created a domino effect.
When a seed withdrawal happens before the start of main draw play, they shift the seeds around in sections.
And so, No. 5 seed Bencic moved up to the first line in the draw, replacing the No. 1.
And Mboko, next in the rankings, became the “No. 9” seed.
Which placed her RIGHT in Bencic’s old spot.
Which means that instead of facing Fernandez she’ll play … you see where we’re going with this … Andreescu.
You couldn’t even draw that up on purpose.
Add to that, Andreescu and Mboko are teaming up for doubles in Tokyo, for the first time.
What next?
The Canadian crew in action this week is even bigger than last week’s.
Here’s the roster, and the results so far.