(Madrid) They will therefore be four Canadians to tread the clay courts of the Spanish capital.
Eugenie Bouchard earned her ticket to the main draw at the Madrid tennis tournament on Tuesday morning after narrowly defeating American Elizabeth Mandlik 6-3, 6-2 in the second and final round of qualifying.
Bouchard, who is ranked 285th in the world rankings, joins compatriots Bianca Andreescu, Leylah Annie Fernandez and Rebecca Marino in the women’s main draw.
The 2014 Wimbledon finalist and Mandlik had never faced each other before in their professional careers.
The 29-year-old harnessed her power to register four aces against Mandlik, and her first serve was also more effective than her opponent’s. Bouchard, however, kept the 147th-ranked player in the game by conceding three breaks in four occasions, while she only stole the American’s serve three times in nine opportunities in total.
The day before, the Quebecer had taken advantage of the abandonment of the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo when she was leading 6-1, 4-1 in the first round of qualifying to progress in the table.
Bouchard is trying to move up the world rankings, having reached No. 5 on October 20, 2014. The results, however, are slow in coming; she notably lost in the second round of the tournament in Oeiras, Portugal, last week.
Marino will face China’s Lin Zhu later today.
For his part, Andreescu, the 23rd seed in the Madrid tournament, earned a bye into the second round, while Fernandez will have a first-round date with 15-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva.
