Canadians Rebecca Marino, Carol Zhao and Katherine Sebov have secured a bye to the main draw of the National Bank Open, which will be presented in Toronto from August 8 to 14.
They join their compatriots Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu, automatically entered in the main draw because of their world ranking.
Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino knocked out Madison Keys and Paula Badosa in Montreal last year before falling to seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16. Earlier this month, she returned to the top 100 of the WTA with strong results on the ITF Tour, including finals in Cancún and Irapuato, Mexico, as well as a title in Arcadia, California.
Carol Zhao of Vaughan, Ont., will come to Toronto on a hot streak after winning back-to-back ITF tournaments in June and July. His performances allowed him to rise within the top 200 global.
Katherine Sebov of Toronto meanwhile recently made the quarter-final at the ITF Evansville event.
Ontarians Victoria Mboko, 15, and Kayla Cross, 17, received qualifying passes for the National Bank Open. A pre-qualifying tournament between Canadian players will be held Aug. 2-5 at Sobeys Stadium to determine the final qualifying bye.
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