Canadian veteran Rebecca Marino advanced to the next round of qualifying for the U.S. Open women’s singles with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over France’s Fiona Fero on Monday. The 35-year-old Vancouver native served eight aces and capitalized on four of six break opportunities against Fero.
Marino successfully navigated the qualifying rounds last year at the U.S. Open but was defeated in the first round by fellow Canadian Leylah Fernandez. Up next, she is set to compete against Russia’s Elena Pridankina in the upcoming three-round qualifying tournament.
In other matches, Canadian player Carson Branstine secured a spot in the next round by defeating Clervie Ngounoue of the United States with a score of 6-2, 7-6 (3). Branstine’s next opponent will be Linda Fruhvirtova from Czechia. However, Kayla Cross from London, Ont., experienced a loss with a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Robin Montgomery of the U.S.
Former U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu from Mississauga, Ont., was scheduled to face Eva Vedder from the Netherlands later on Monday.
On the men’s side, Alexis Galarneau from Levis, Que., progressed to the second qualifying round by defeating Keegan Smith of the United States with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-3. Galarneau is now set to play against Dalibor Svrcina from Czechia.
In mixed doubles qualifying, the second-seeded team of Gabriela Dabrowski from Ottawa and Harri Heliovaara from Finland were surprisingly defeated 2-4, 4-1, 10-8 by Kristina Mladenovic from France and Marcelo Arevalo from El Salvador. Dabrowski is also expected to compete in women’s doubles at the U.S. Open after securing the title last year with her former partner Erin Routliffe, marking their second U.S. Open championship in three years.