Canadian players, including Quebecers Félix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Annie Fernandez, could complete a long haul at the Australian Tennis Open, judging by the tournament draw held overnight Wednesday through Thursday.
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Ninth-ranked holder in the world, Auger-Aliassime has an appointment with Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori (90th) in the first round of the men’s singles competition. With three wins up front, he could face Russian Andrey Rublev (fifth) in round 4; It was also at this stage that he dropped the flag in Melbourne last year.
Still among the men, Ontarian Denis Shapovalov (14th) will have to be wary of Serbian Laslo Djere (52nd), his first opponent of the event. Defeated by Auger-Aliassime in the third round in 2021, “Shapo” could rub shoulders with the American Reilly Opelka (25th) at the same stage, then with the German Alexander Zverev (third) at the next.
The crowd against Fernandez?
For her part, Fernandez, 24th player on the WTA Tour, will have to master a local athlete and possibly her supporters to begin her journey. She will face Maddison Inglis (139th) who obtained a pass for the main draw. If logic is respected, the Quebecer will face the German Angelique Kerber (17th) in her third duel and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (second) in her subsequent clash.
Meanwhile, British Columbian Rebecca Marino needs a win in her final qualifying game to confirm her place in the tournament. To do so, she will have to defeat Russian Kamilla Rakhimova on Thursday evening (Friday, Melbourne time).
Marino makes his way into the main draw
The Canadian Rebecca Marino, for her part, managed to enter the main draw through the back door, she who defeated Kamilla Rakhimova in the last round of qualifying late Thursday night.
The representative of the maple leaf defeated the Russian in three sets of 4-6, 6-2 and 7-6 (7).
The 146th racket in the world had a bad start to its match, it which was broken in the first game of the first set, without being able to reply.
History did not repeat itself in the second set, however. Marino broke the 116th WTA racket three times, while she herself lost her serve only once.
The Maple Leaf member and her opponent each won all of their serves games in the third inning, forcing an ultimate game, in which the Canadian recorded three mini-breakages against two, in order to obtain his ball for the main draw.