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Qualifying play wound up today, under sunny skies once again. Unlike yesterday, the temperature was on the uncomfortably hot side today.

This tournament is quite generous to qualifiers, with 12 qualifying for the main draw. It was a particularly successful haul for the U.S.A., as four of the twelve qualifiers are from the land of the stars and stripes. Here are your successful ladies!

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Featured matches

Henrieta Nagyova (def. Wynne Prakusya, 6-1, 6-3) -- will play Mary Pierce

Nagyova?s win did not feel like a 6-1, 6-3 match, because it lasted about an hour and twenty minutes and there were quite a few deuce games. It was the Slovakian who had the brilliant idea to win most of them. Henrieta, sporting a bright red headband and wearing black shoes, played the big points better, taking charge of most rallies with her deep, driving forehands. She was also punishing Prakusya?s soft second serves with deep returns, and Wynne, who was not serving particularly well, gave her too ma ny of these chances. Prakusya also struggled with her backhand, putting many of them beyond the baseline. Several times she rehearsed the stroke between points, trying to remind herself to come over the ball properly.

Els Callens (def. Amy Frazier, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)) -- will play Cristina Torrens-Valero

Belgian veteran Callens is having something of a career renaissance at age 30 (she turns 31 later this month). Notably, she impressed at Wimbledon this year, reaching the third round and pushing eventual champion Serena Williams hard in a 7-6, 7-6 loss. This was the best match of the day, played in the main stadium.

Frazier certainly had chances to win it: she served for the match at 6-5, but was broken at 30-40 when Callens ran down a lob and delivered a strong overhead winner from the baseline. Frazier also led 5-3 in the final tie-break with two service points to come, but lost both of them on strong play by Callens (a cross-court forehand winner, and a forehand return winner). Callens had a match point at 6-5, but the nerves were jangling, and she double faulted. Frazier returned the favour with a double fault on Callens?s second match point, bringing an anticlimactic end to a very good match.

Rossana Neffa-de los Ríos (def. Sonya Jeyaseelan, 6-2, 6-1) -- will play fellow qualifier Magui Serna

The stadium court fans hoping to give Sonya Jeyaseelan a push along the comeback trail were disappointed, as the Canadian collapsed in a heap of errors. It should be said that Neffa-de los Ríos, the tour?s highest-ranked mother (her charming daughter Ana Paula is something of a tour mascot), has looked very solid, playing aggressively and intelligently this weekend. In any event, Sonya?s surprise win over Katarina Srebotnik yesterday should be encouraging as the Canadian attempts a comeback from a length y injury layoff.

Magui Serna (def. Beier Ko, 6-4, 6-3) -- will play Neffa-de los Ríos

We told you yesterday about Ko, the Canadian junior who just turned 16 last month and has already won a minor pro title on the ITF circuit. Ko continued to impress today, losing with honour to the veteran Serna. Magui took a quick 4-1 lead as Beier looked jittery in the big stadium, but then Serna went on a bit of a walkabout and Ko came back to level the set at 4-4. Serna must have figured it was time to get serious: she broke Ko at love and then held to take a 6-4 lead.

The stocky lefty from the Canary Islands continued to dominate in the second set with her assortment of spins and hard serves, but it was not outrageous domination. The young Canadian showed nice shotmaking ability with her smooth strokes, and managed to dominate a number of rallies. There are still some things for Ko to work on, notably beefing up her serve and perhaps, dare I suggest, coming into the net on occasion. But the fundamentals are sound, and we were impressed with what we saw from Beier Ko here.

Tatiana Poutchek (pictured at right) (def. Alicia Molik, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4) -- will play Nicole Pratt

The colourful Poutchek, who would probably be the tour leader in bounced racquets if such statistics were kept, ground out her second three-set win in a row. This was another of the better matches of the day, with the tall and determined Australian Molik looking to come forward, and Poutchek trying to either keep her pinned back or pass her. The Belarussian hit some excellent passing shots to seal the victory in the third set, before a pretty large court one crowd who came over to see the conclusion.

Laura Granville (def. Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 6-1) -- will play Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario

We feel a little sheepish about raving so much about Zvonareva in yesterday?s report. Needless to say, we were surprised to see that she was blown away by Granville. It should be said that the former university tennis standout is having something of a breakout year of her own, notably reaching the fourth round out of qualifying at Wimbledon.

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And the others?

Sarah Taylor (def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-7(2) 6-2 6-1) -- will play Jana Nejedly. Note that Schiavone is in as a lucky loser, and will play Eleni Daniilidou.

Cara Black (def. Meilen Tu, 6-2 6-1) -- will play Amanda Coetzer

Virginia Ruano Pascual (def. Elena Bovina, 7-5 2-6 6-2) -- will play Anne Kremer

Marissa Irvin (def. Samantha Reeves, 6-4 6-2) -- will play Barbara Schett

Jill Craybas (def. Angelika Roesch, 6-4 4-6 6-3) -- will play Daja Bedanova

Saori Obata (def. Alina Jidkova, 2-6 6-4 6-0) -- will play Anna Kournikova

Tomorrow we turn it over to our ace reporter Chris Gerby, who will be covering the tournament from here. Please join us daily for reports from Montreal.