(Madrid) It was a good day for the Canadians on clay in the Spanish capital.
Rebecca Marino defeated China’s Zhu Lin 7-6(1), 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid women’s tennis tournament on Tuesday, hours after compatriot Eugenie Bouchard earned her ticket to the main draw.
Marino took the measure of the 39th player in the world after an hour and 42 minutes, thus improving her career record against Lin to 3-2. The 29-year-old Chinese had won their last two encounters, which came earlier this year at the Australian Open and the tournament in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Vancouverite, who is ranked 79th in the world, will face Belgian Elise Mertens, 24th seed in the tournament, in the next round.
Meanwhile, Bouchard, who is ranked No. 285 in the world rankings, joined compatriots Marino, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Annie Fernandez in the women’s main draw, after narrowly defeating American Elizabeth Mandlik 6-3, 6-2 in last round of qualifying.
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.
For his part, Andreescu, the 23rd seed in the Madrid tournament, earned a second-round bye, while Fernandez will face 15-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the first round on Wednesday.
