Vancouver’s Marino continues Cinderella story
Rebecca Marino’s surprising run at the National Bank Open continued Wednesday, with the Canadian defeating Paula Badosa of Spain 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
The 30-year-old Vancouver native struggled early, with Badosa jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first set.
But Marino settled in and battled back, taking the second set and breaking Badosa twice in the third before sealing the game with an ace to advance to the third round.
The Canadian wild card saved 11-of-17 break points across the match and hit nine aces, while Badosa — No. 30 in the WTA — had 10 double faults and saved 5-of-10 break points.
Marino, ranked 220th in the world, was a wild-card entry into the tournament and stunned many on Tuesday, upsetting No. 16 seed Madison Keys in straight sets to advance to the second round.
Marino had a career-high No. 38 WTA ranking in 2011, but stepped away from the sport for nearly five years to deal with depression.
She wasn’t about to get much rest ahead of the third round.
Marino was scheduled to play doubles with Montreal’s Leylah Annie Fernandez, too, with the Canadians facing American Ingrid Neel and Elixane Lechemia of France.
Fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime struggled at the men’s tournament in Toronto, losing 7-5, 6-4 to Dusan Lajovic of Serbia on Wednesday.
The Montreal native hit six aces but made a number of unforced forehand errors.
Windy conditions made for a challenging match, Auger-Aliassime said
“I thought I could have done better in many moments, a few key points,” he said. “There was a couple of points I think I let go too easy on him and in the end, that wasn’t good enough.”
Auger-Aliassime, who turned 21 on Sunday, double faulted on a break point to give Lajovic a 6-5 lead in the first set. Lajovic broke the Canadian in the fourth game of the second set and never relinquished the lead.
“I just have to accept the situation. There’s nothing more to do right now. It’s OK,” said Auger-Aliassime, who’s No. 16 in the ATP rankings. “I feel like I can of course play better, I will play better in the future. The tennis season is a lot of tournaments, a lot of matches, ups and downs.”
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was set to open his tournament late on Wednesday against American Frances Tiafoe.