Three of the five Canadians in action in the first round of the National Bank Championships, Monday in Granby, succeeded in their mission to advance to the second round.
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In an all-Canadian duel, where a representative of the maple leaf was guaranteed to progress while another was bound to be eliminated, Rebecca Marino triumphed in two identical sets of 6-3 against Victoria Mboko.
The winner of this duel is the member of the country with the maple leaf best positioned in the WTA rankings, she who rests in 112e square. She easily defeated the one who is 407 behind, the 519th racket in the world, even if she was the first to lose her serve, from the first game of the match.
Marino, however, responded to Mboko by breaking it in turn in the fourth and eighth games of the set, before breaking it two more times in the following set, to win.
The 31-year-old particularly made the difference in experience felt with her 16-year-old junior when she had the balls in hand, hitting seven aces. She also put in play 66% of her first serves, winning the rally 85% of the time in such circumstances.
The 15-year-old athlete, who will however celebrate her birthday before the end of August, only managed to put into play 46% of her first balls, winning 61% of the rallies that took place. were following.
In the next round, Marino will face Italian Jasmine Paolini, 57e racquet in the world and third seed.
Stakusic advances
In another duel earlier in the day, Canadian Marina Stakusic defeated Australian Jaimee Fourlis in straight sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Stakusic, 630e in the world, broke her rival seven times in no less than 22 occasions. The latter, although much better ranked at 152e rank of the WTA, lost his serve three times in the middle set, then three more times in the final engagement.
Stakusic, 17, will now face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk (72e), 10e seeded event.
Brace cause surprise
For its part, Cadence Brace, 646th in the world, pulled off a real tour de force by showing the way out to the 70e player in the world – and seventh seed – the Slovenian Kaja Juvan, in two sets of 7-5 and 6-3.
The 17-year-old tenniswoman first managed a major break in service in the 12th game of the first set, to take the honors from the set.
In the next set, Brace led by a break of serve as she served for the match. However, she was unable to take advantage of her first four match points and even offered two break points to her opponent afterwards, who was no longer able to realize his chances. Brace finally capitalized on his fifth match point.
In the next round, she will face China’s Xiyu Wang, 75e WTA racket.
Kayla Cross (1162)e) meanwhile missed its entry. Also 17 years old, she lost 6-3 and 6-4 to Hungarian Anna Bondar (56e), fourth favorite.