(Birmingham) Canada’s Rebecca Marino reached the quarter-finals of the Birmingham Grass Court Classic with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1) win over American Emina Bektas.
Marino needed 2 hours 15 minutes to defeat her rival, ruling out a rain stoppage.
The 32-year-old Vancouverite hammered 21 aces and won 73.4% of the points contested on her first serve.
Marino saved three match points when Bektas, ranked 150th in the world, served at 5-4 in the final set.
Each player broke her rival’s serve four times during the game, but Marino had the best thanks to her brilliance in the final tiebreaker.
In the quarter-finals, Marino, 90th in the WTA rankings, will face China’s Lin Zhu, 39th.
