Marino roars back with big win at VanOpen
A year ago, Rebecca Marino was playing the pro-am at the Odlum Brown Van Open with broadcast er turned-politician Steve Darling.
On Wednesday afternoon, she received a standing ovation from a revved-up crowd on Hollyburn Country Club centre court.
Marino, the 27-year-old from Vancouver who retired five years ago due to a battle with depression, continued her comeback with a gutsy 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 first-round win at this year’s VanOpen over Naomi Broady of Britain.
“It was at the end of the tournamenthere last year that I decided I wanted to make my comeback,” explained Marino, who’s a wild-card entry for this tournament. “Going from just being a pro-am, hitting partner last year to suddenly being on centre court and playing again is pretty special.”
Eugenie Bouchard, who played her first-round match later Wednesday at Hollyburn, has garnered most of the headlines, but Marino’s attempt at a tennis reset remains noteworthy.
Marino, who reached No. 38 in the Women’s Tennis Association world rankings in July 2011, started playing again in January and won her first three tournaments in Turkey.
She came into this week at No. 287. Broady was No. 152.
They battled two hours Wednesday, including a 54-minute set. Marino rallied from 5-4 down for the victory. Marino finished with 18 aces, compared with nine for Broady. Eight aces for Marino came in that third set.
“I wasn’t completely satisfied with how I was playing,” she said of her meeting with Broady, 28, “but it’s a good starting point and I’d like to think that my next match I can up my level a little bit more.”
Marino gets an even stiffer challenge in the next round, facing tournament No. 2 seed Yanina Wickmayer, a 28-year-old from Belgium who is ranked No. 96 going into this week.