Marino into Qatar Open main draw on bittersweet day for Canadian women
Leylah Fernandez, seeded 7th in qualifying, falls in straight sets to top seed Pliskova
Vancouver's Rebecca Marino qualified for the main draw of the Qatar Open tennis tournament with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic on Monday.
Marino, ranked 75th in the world, landed just 44.4 per cent of her first serves, but won 78.6 per cent of the available points when it did land, including five aces.
The Canadian also defended four of the five break points she faced, while breaking Bouzkova four times in 14 chances.
Bouzkova, seeded second in the qualifying tournament and ranked 26th in the world, committed five double faults and won just 52.2 per cent of total service points.
WATCH | Marino eliminated in 1st round of Abu Dhabi Open:
Marino also defeated sixth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Katarina Zavatska on the weekend to qualify for the main draw of the WTA 500 event.
She will next face sixth seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the first round.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., the seventh seed in the qualifying draw, missed out on a chance to join Marino in the main draw with a 6-2, 7-5 loss to top seed Karolina Pliskova of Czechia.
