Star player of the night, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu defeated 11th seed Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a first round match at the National Bank Open, tuesday.
The Canadian, who needed a few breaks during the clash, prevailed after two hours and 29 minutes of play against the 9th player in the world.
Andreescu was proactive throughout the duel coming from behind to win several sets. She also knew how to take advantage of the first three break points she got.
Queen at Flushing Meadows in 2019 and the Rogers Cup in Toronto in 2019, Andreescu will face France’s Alizé Cornet in the second round.
Cornet, 40th racket in the world, took the measure of his compatriot Caroline Garcia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Marino loses in the first round
China’s Zheng Qinwen defeated Canada’s Rebecca Marino 3-6, 7-5(5), 6-4 in her first round match.
The Vancouverite came to the tournament after making the quarter-finals in Washington last week.
Marino, who cracked the WTA top-100 for the first time since 2012, won the opening round with ease.
Zheng found her bearings in the second set and Marino made too many errors in the tiebreaker, giving up the set to her rival ranked 51st in the world.
The third set was hotly contested, but Zheng prevailed by winning the last three games.
Marino had 12 aces in the encounter, compared to 10 for Zheng.
In the next round, 19-year-old Zheng will face fifth seed Ons Jabeur.
Ninth seed Emma Raducanu, champion of New York last year, was upset 7-6 (0) and 6-2 by Camila Giorgi of Italy, 29th in the world.
Giorgi’s next rival will be Belgian Elise Mertens, 37th in the WTA.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, lost 7-6(4), 3-0 to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi before retiring with a back injury.
Ranked 31st, Kanepi will face eighth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in the second round.
For Osaka, this is the fourth tournament in a row where she has been beaten in the first or second round.
On Tuesday she committed five double faults, including four in the first set.
Also in action will be third-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece, who will take on American Sloane Stephens.