After Leylah Annie Fernandez the day before, it’s Canadian Rebecca Marino’s turn to pack up for the Madrid tennis tournament.
The 32-year-old Vancouverite lost a hard 6-3, 6-1 to Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Thursday after an hour and 16 minutes of play on Spanish clay.
Marino, the 79e world racket, was sorely lacking in efficiency on serve. She only put into play 47.4% of her first service balls, and only got the point in 51.9% of the occasions.
The Maple Leaf representative was also very generous with the 24th seed; she conceded six breaks in 11 opportunities. Marino was also limited to just two breaks in five chances against Mertens.
In the next round, the Belgian will have an appointment with the German Jule Niemeier.
Young Andreeva pursues
Earlier in the day, 15-year-old Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva continued her dream run by beating 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6(6), 6-3 in the second round .
Andreeva will now face Poland’s Madga Linette, 17e seed, who defeated Czech Marketa Voudrousova 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4.
The day before, Andreeva had surprised Fernandez 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of this tournament played on clay. The one who will celebrate her 16e birthday in two days had just knocked out the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up, savoring her first career win on the WTA Tour in the process.
It was then the first time that Andreeva faced a player in the top 50 in the world, despite the fact that she had recorded some good results so far this season. Her win over Haddad Maia lifted her 2023 professional player record to 15-0 after winning back-to-back ITF W60 Series titles.
That wasn’t the only stunning result in Madrid.
Niemeier notably overturned the 10e top seed Petra Kvitova, two-time Wimbledon champion, 7-6(9), 6-1, while home favorite Spain’s Rebeka Masarova upset the 20e seeded Donna Vekic 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Other winners include sixth seed Coco Gauff, ninth seed Maria Sakkari, 14e seeded Liudmila Samsonova and the 19e seeded Jelena Ostapenko.
Quebecer Eugenie Bouchard will meet in the second round on Friday morning with Italian Martina Trevisan, 18e seeded, while Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu will cross swords with China’s Wang Xiyu.