The Asian swing is short and sweet and is already at its pinnacle with the 1000 events on both tours taking place.
Beijing is already partway through on the WTA Tour while main draw play begins midweek in Shanghai on the ATP side. Both events have Canadian content.
Here’s what you need to know.
In Case You Missed It: Slow Starts in Asia
The Asian swing is underway on the other side of the world and it was a tough start for the Canadians in singles. Four Canadians were competing last week but none managed to pick up a win.
Leylah Annie Fernandez was the lone Canadian in the singles main draw at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing and, after a first-round bye, lost to American Peyton Stearns in straight sets.
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However, the Canadian did manage to pick up a win in doubles, winning her opening match with Aldila Sutjiadi over the local team of Hanyu Guo and Xinyu Jiang. Gabriela Dabrowski also got off to a winning start in doubles in Beijing with Erin Routliffe. The top seeds defeated Su Wei Hsieh and Xiyu Wang in the first round.
Both Marina Stakusic and Carol Zhao were competing in singles qualifying in Beijing but lost in the first round.
Félix Auger-Aliassime was the only Canadian man competing on the ATP main tour at the 500 event in Tokyo but was shocked in the first round by local favourite Yoshihito Nishioka in a three-hour, three-set thriller.
What to Watch: ATP joins the 1000 action
While the WTA 1000 event in Beijing is ongoing, the ATP gets their Asian 1000 underway this week further down the Chinese coast in Shanghai.
Félix Auger-Aliassime is the only Canadian to receive direct entry into the event. He is seeded 18th and will face either Luca Nardi or Alexandre Muller in his opening match after a bye. A potential gauntlet follows as Auger-Aliassime is projected to face No. 10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in round three, No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the round of sixteen, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz in the semis.
Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo both could join their Davis Cup teammate in the Shanghai main draw as each man won his opening qualifying match on Monday. There are two rounds of qualifying in Shanghai. Shapovalov will face Sho Shimabukuro for a spot in the main draw while Diallo will have to battle past Marco Trungelliti.
Leylah Annie Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski are both still alive in the Beijing doubles.
It will be tough for Fernandez and Aldila Sutjiadi as they face Olympic gold medalists and fifth seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in the second round. However, if they pull the upset, their path would open as Errani and Paolini are the only seeds left in the bottom half of the draw.
Top seeds Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe face Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls in the second round. A win would set up a quarter-final clash with No. 7 seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova, who knocked the Canadian-Kiwi duo out in the last eight of the US Open.
Under the Radar:
Canadians had three looks at titles last week on the ITF World Tour but only managed to claim three runner-up trophies.
18-year-old Victoria Mboko was the lone singles finalist, getting to the title match at the W35 in Berkeley, California, but she lost in three sets to American Iva Jovic.
Rebecca Marino and Cleeve Harper both reached ITF doubles finals last week in Templeton, California and Sabadell, Spain respectively but both were defeated.
An all-Canadian junior pair also had a runner-up performance on the ITF junior circuit as Antoine Clavel and Maxim Yevdayev reached the J30 Punta Cana doubles final, but like their pro countrymen and women, they fell in the title match.
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This week, Marina Stakusic is competing in an extra-strong WTA 125 draw in Hong Kong.
There are also large groups of Canadians competing at ITF events in Redding, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
