(Montreal) The Canadians had a rough start to the day on Saturday in the first round of qualifying at the National Bank Tennis Open at IGA Stadium.

A first fell in combat when Carol Zhao lost the flag in two identical sets of 6-3 against the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.

The 28-year-old Canadian, ranked 245th in the world, struggled to come through on her serve, especially in the second set, when she faced eight break points.

Bucsa, ranked 84th in the world, took control of this second round by winning the first four games.

A little later, in a hard-fought match on center court, Marina Stakusic, an 18-year-old Ontarian ranked 414th in the world and having only seven career games at the WTA level, nearly caused an upset against the American Alycia Parks, 48th player in the world.

After conceding the first set, Parks, a slender athlete measuring 1.85m, got out of trouble and finally won 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2 hours 43 minutes, despite her impressive total of 17 double faults.

Parks and Bucsa will face off tomorrow and the winner will advance to the main draw.

Four other Canadians will play matches on this first day of qualifying, including Eugenie Bouchard, who will face the American Danielle Collins, 49th player in the world.

This duel must begin at 3 p.m., at the earliest, on the center court of the IGA stadium.

For Bouchard, this will be his first match in Montreal as part of this WTA 1000 tournament since 2018.

The Montrealer then lost in straight sets to Belgian Elise Mertens in a first-round encounter.

In a match played on one of the secondary courts, Bianca Fernandez, Leylah’s younger sister, crosses swords with Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, the 46th player in the world and the first seed in the qualifying table.