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Eugenie Bouchard’s final tennis tournament will begin against Colombia’s Emiliana Arango at the National Bank Open.
Bouchard, who reached No. 5 in the WTA rankings in a breakout 2014 season, announced she will retire at the end of her hometown event.
The 31-year-old from Westmount, Que., made it to the Wimbledon women’s final in 2014, losing to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. She became the first Canadian woman in the open era to reach a Grand Slam singles final.
Bouchard received a main-draw wild card to the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal, which began play with qualifying Saturday.
This year’s edition features a revamped 12-day, 96-player format. The top 32 seeds, led by world No. 2 Coco Gauff, received byes to the second round.
A record eight Canadians are in the main draw. That number could increase with five others playing in qualifying.
Rising star Victoria Mboko of Toronto takes on Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in first-round action.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., who won the tournament in Toronto in 2019, faces a tough opening matchup against the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam champion.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que. — the top-ranked Canadian at 36th in the world — meets American Maya Joint.