(Madrid) After Leylah Annie Fernandez the day before, it’s Canadian Rebecca Marino’s turn to pack up for the Madrid tennis tournament.
The 32-year-old Vancouverite lost a hard 6-3, 6-1 to Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Thursday after an hour and 16 minutes of play on Spanish clay.
Marino, the 79th racquet in the world, was sorely lacking in efficiency on serve. She only put into play 47.4% of her first service balls, and only obtained the point in 51.9% of the occasions.
The Maple Leaf representative was also very generous with the 24th seed; she conceded six breaks in 11 occasions. Marino was also limited to just two breaks in five chances against Mertens.
In the next round, the Belgian will have an appointment with the German Jule Niemeier.
Earlier in the day, 15-year-old Mirra Andreeva continued her dream run by beating 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6(6), 6-3 in the second round.
Andreeva will now face the winner of the duel between Polish 17th seed Madga Linette and Czech Marketa Voudrousova – a duel which will take place later today.
The day before, Andreeva had surprised Fernandez 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of this tournament played on clay. The one who will celebrate her 16th birthday in two days had just eliminated the finalist of the United States Open in 2021, savoring at the same time her first career victory on the WTA circuit.
It was then the first time that Andreeva faced a player from the top-50 in the world, despite the fact that she had recorded some good results so far this season. Her win over Haddad Maia lifted her 2023 professional player record to 15-0 after winning back-to-back ITF W60 Series titles.
That wasn’t the only stunning result in Madrid.
Niemeier notably toppled 10th seed Petra Kvitova, two-time Wimbledon champion, 7-6(9), 6-1, while home favorite Rebeka Masarova of Spain stunned 20th seed Donna Vekic 6 -1, 7-6 (5).
Other winners include sixth seed Coco Gauff, ninth seed Maria Sakkari and 19th seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Quebec’s Eugenie Bouchard will meet 18th-seeded Martina Trevisan of Italy in the second round on Friday morning, while Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu will face China’s Wang Xiyu.