(Canton) Canadian Rebecca Marino lost 6-4, 6-3 to Swiss Viktorija Golubic in the first round of the women’s tennis tournament in Guangzhou, China, on Tuesday.
Marina, 138e in the world, gave up after an hour and 16 minutes of play against Golubic, the 106e world racket. It was the first career duel between the two players.
The British Columbian was particularly effective on serve – she notably dominated her opponent 11-3 in terms of aces – but she lacked sharpness in return. In addition, Marino was the victim of five breaks in seven occasions, while her 30-year-old rival conceded only two in four occasions.
In the next round, Golubic will meet fifth-seeded Spaniard Rebeka Masarova, who defeated Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl 7-5, 6-2.
On the other hand, the third seed Tatjana Maria continued her way in the second round by defeating the Philippine Alexandra Eala 6-3, 6-0.
Maria will face the Chinese Zhuoxuan Baiin in the next round. Zhuoxuan, who upset Despina Papamichail 6-3, 7-5, was part of the trio of Chinese players who triumphed in the first round.
Wang Xiyu defeated Nadia Podoroska 6-3, 6-3, setting up a second-round match against Diana Shnaider. For her part, Yuan Yue beat Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Other winners today included fourth seed Lucia Bronzetti, Daria Saville and Moyuka Uchijima.