(Montreal) You would think so, at first glance, but the elimination of Leylah Fernandez Thursday night at the National Bank Open did not mean that there were no more Canadians at the tournament on Friday. There were still two left, and they did everything to mix things up and extend their stay.
Those two Canadians are Carol Zhao and Marina Stakusic, and on Friday they came close to having to play a second match in a matter of hours on the women’s doubles draw, on Rogers Court at IGA Stadium.
However, they lost their flag by scores of 6-3, 3-6, 6-10 against the tandem formed by the American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and the Australian Ellen Perez, at the end of the afternoon, in the eighth of final.
Zhao and Stakusic had never played together before this tournament. The first, aged 28, ranks 1508th in doubles according to the WTA website. Stakusic, 10 years younger than Zhao, ranks 764th.
In their first outing on Wednesday, they defeated the team of Marie Bouzkova and Lin Zhu 6-4, 3-6, 11-9.
On Friday, they fought a duo made up of two players in the top 10 of the women’s doubles ranking.
Alternately, Zhao and Stakusic said they were disappointed to lose the match, which they believed could have worked in their favor.
“I feel mixed emotions, that’s for sure. Obviously, we respect our opponents a lot and they are good players. However, we led for most of the game and I thought we had a very good chance of winning,” Zhao said.
“I agree with Carol. I think we’re a bit disappointed because we had the game in our hands, especially after the first set. We were aggressive and we controlled a lot of points,” added Stakusic.
“But I’m happy. It’s the first time we’ve played together, and it’s nice to have been the last Canadian women to participate in the tournament. I think it’s positive. The week has been positive. »
In the event of a victory in this match, Zhao and Stakusic would have played at the end of the evening against the team formed by Latisha Chan, Chinese Taipei, and Zhaoxuan Yang, China.
Before pairing up in doubles, Zhao and Stakusic had tried to earn their place in the women’s singles draw during the qualifying round last weekend.
Both players were eliminated after their first match of the tournament on Saturday.