Canadian fans of international sport content themselves by rooting for their ancestral homelands in that little soccer shindig taking place in Brazil.
But while Canadian soccer, at least the men’s national side, languishes, the trendiest Canadian sport is about to hit Wimbledon full stride next week with eight Canuck qualifiers in the main draw led by Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic.
The ripple effects are everywhere, including at the $10,000 Freedom 55 Financial Victoria women’s ITF tournament taking place at the Panorama Recreation Centre. The ITF is the development pro level where players gain the official ranking points that can carry them to the big-league WTA.
Just three years ago, French Open semifinalist Bouchard was playing in ITF tournaments just like this one. Now, she and men’s world No. 9 Raonic are helping make tennis one of the hottest current games on the Canadian sporting landscape.
A good-size gallery was out Saturday afternoon at Panorama to watch maybe the next Bouchard, as the semifinals of the ITF Freedom 55 Financial Victoria women’s tournament played out.
Twelve WTA ranking points will go to the winner of today’s final at 11 a.m. between world No. 400 Tori Kinard of Pasadena, Calif., and world No. 522 Sonja Molnar of Guelph, Ont., the former Canadian U-18 champion who was first team all-Big Ten during her NCAA career with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
The 12 points, which are probably more important than the $1,500 for first place, would jump Molnar to 476th in the world and Kinard to 365th.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about the points,” said tournament organizer Eric Knoester.
Kinard defeated Ayaka Okuno of Japan — celebrating her 19th birthday — 6-3, 6-1 Saturday in the first semifinal. Molnar downed teen Stacey Fung of Vancouver 6-4, 6-0 in the second semifinal.
“We’re chasing the dream,” said Kinard, who has an extraordinary family history in another racquet sport.
Dad Chris Kinard was six-time U.S. badminton champion. Mom Utami Dewi Kinard was women’s silver medallist and uncle Rudy Hartono, one of the greatest and most decorated players of all-time, the men’s gold medallist for Indonesia when badminton was a demonstration sport at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.
“My family background has really helped me on the competitive side . . . my parents especially helped prepare me for the mental aspects of the game at this level,” said Kinard.
“Everything is about getting the ranking points to make that jump up to the next level,” said the soft-spoken Kinard, who turned down 48 NCAA U.S. collegiate athletic scholarship offers in order to turn pro.
The tournament, the first women’s ITF event held in B.C. since Vancouver in 2001 and the first in Canada since Calgary in 2007, has been such a success that organizers plan on doing it again next year at Panorama.
“Tennis Canada and Tennis B.C. are on board with that,” said organizer Knoester, who is in charge of racquet sports at Panorama.
“This is life on the Tour. [The Victoria tournament] means Canadian players don’t have to travel as far for an ITF tournament.”
There were two Islanders who made the main draw of 32 for this ITF tournament. Khristina Blajkevitch of Victoria, who played NCAA for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, made the quarter-finals before losing 6-3, 6-4 to Okuno. Also chasing her WTA dreams is Kelsey Anonsen of Victoria. The former NCAA player for the University of Toledo, after transferring from the University of Washington, made it to the Sweet 16 round at Panorama.
