Rebecca Marino had a strong start to China’s Zhu Lin, but the Canadian still lost in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Birmingham tournament on Friday .
The 32-year-old British Columbian lacked consistency on serve and that’s what allowed her opponent to come back. Despite hitting 10 aces in total, Marino struggled at times to get her first serves in play. Her second serve then only won her 36.5% of rallies.
Marino, the 90e racket of the WTA, offered 12 break points to Lin (39e) and was only able to save seven.
This is the sixth time since 2022 that the two veterans have met. The Chinese won four of those duels, including knocking out the Canadian at the Australian Open earlier this year.
It was Marino’s fifth game this week. Defeated in the second qualifying round, she made it into the main draw anyway and defeated Wang Xiyu and Emina Bektas in her first two matches.