No Canadians will enter the singles draws at the U.S. Open through the qualifying tournament after Bianca Andreescu and Liam Draxl lost in final round action Friday in New York.
Andreescu fell 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek. The 2019 U.S. Open women's champion from Mississauga, Ont., fired seven aces across the two-hour 44-minute match but struggled on net points, winning just 10 of the 21 available.
The match started Thursday but had to be suspended due to rain. Andreescu was up 2-0 at the time.
Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., also had his qualifying match against Australia's Tristan Schoolkate pushed to Friday before losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7).
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Both players scored four breaks, but Schoolkate was the last to win against serve to go up 4-3 in the third set and erase an early Draxl advantage.
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., will be on the men's side when main draw action begins Sunday, while 2021 runner-up Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., will be on the women's side.
Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula praised the U.S. Open's record prize money allocation and the creation of a Grand Slam player advisory council, saying calls for competitors to get a larger share of the revenue were beginning to gain traction.
The U.S. Open announced a record $108 million US prize purse for this year's tournament, while the four Grand Slams unveiled plans for an advisory council following growing pressure from leading players for increased prize money and a bigger role in decisions affecting the sport.
World No. 1 Sabalenka, a vocal supporter of efforts to improve player compensation, said the developments could help ease tensions between players and tournament organizers.
"We're super happy … that we're finally getting to the point where we wanted to be at the very beginning," the Belarusian told reporters on Friday.
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"Hopefully we're not gonna boycott media or tournament or anything in the future. We all going to be happy, and that's all we wanted from the very beginning."
Sabalenka and men's world No. 1 Jannik Sinner were among the top players who limited their pre-tournament media availabilities at the French Open and Wimbledon this year to 15 minutes as part of a protest to demand a higher percentage of tournament revenue for prize money.
