Fernandez, Marino take control at Billie Jean King Cup

Vancouver's Rebecca Marino used her powerhouse serve and the cheers of a hometown crowd to help Canada jump out to a 2-0 lead on Latvia Friday at the Pacific Coliseum in their best-of-five Bille Jean King Cup qualifier.

Marino, 31, recorded 17 aces in a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 win over Latvia's Daniela Vismane in the second singles match of the day. Leylah Fernandez, Canada's No. 1 player, needed only 53 minutes to beat Darja Semenistaja 6-1, 6-2 in the opener.

Fernandez is slated to play Vismane tomorrow beginning at 2 p.m., followed by Marino facing Semenistaja and a doubles match featuring Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Carol Zhao of Toronto versus Latvia's Diana Marcinkevica and Liga Dekmeijere.

The winner between Canada and Latvia advances to the 12-nation Billie Jean Cup Finals in November.

“Thank you to everyone in the stadium for pushing me to fight through to the end,” Marino told the crowd in an on-court interview after the match. “I can't express what this means to me.”

Marino admitted she “struggled to find my rhythm ... I was nervous playing home.” She was up 3-0 in the second set tiebreaker before losing. She seemed buoyed by the home crowd in particular in the third set. She had a large group of family and friends on hand.

“I"m really proud of how I played today ... how I fought and hung in there," she said.

Fernandez told reporters how she, too, was spurred on by the crowd. “It's very important. This is one of the few tournaments where they can the loud and more outgoing,” explained the 19-year-old from Laval.

Fernandez, who's ranked No. 21 in the world, was strong on her return of serves from the 389th-ranked Semenistaja, winning 67 per cent of her opponent's service points and taking all seven of her opponent's service games.

The rallies also belonged to the Canadian, evidenced by her 16 winners to 14 unforced errors. The 19-year-old Latvian committed 21 unforced errors.