July 14-21, 2024
WTA 250 ATP Challenger Tour Tennis Canada

Kasatkina finishes off Frech; Canada’s Marino through to quarters

August 24, 2022
Daria Kasatkina hits a forehand

Photo : Sarah-Jade Champagne

Wednesday was a busy day in Granby after only one WTA match was completed on Tuesday with the rain.

Top seed Daria Kasatkina had the most excruciating wait of all the players, returning to the court on Wednesday needing just one game to book her place in the quarter-finals. She was leading 6-3, 5-0 when the rain for the postponement of her second-round match with Magdalena Frech on Tuesday night.

When they came back out on Centre Court 17 hours after departing the night before, Frech managed to take advantage of the pause to reclaim one break of serve, but Kasatkina was not to be denied, breaking to grab that last game she had waited for and closing out the win 6-3, 6-2.

Hope for a home champion remained alive in the night session when Canada’s Rebecca Marino rallied from a set down to upset third seed Jasmine Paolini. The big serving Canadian did not face a break point after dropping the opening set.

One bad game, her only poor one on serve in the match, cost Marino the opening set. But she was quick to put it behind her and Paolini had no answer for the Canadian’s big hitting as the match went along. Marino took her chances when they came, converting four of her five break points in the last two sets as she booked her place in the last eight.

Tatjana Maria caused the first big upset of the tournament, taking out fourth seed Anna Bondar in straight sets.

Opening the day on Centre Court having had their match pushed over from Tuesday, the Wimbledon semifinalist came out swinging, taking a 4-0 lead and never looking back. Maria never trailed in the match, breaking serve five times on her way to a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Another seed, No. 8 Tereza Martincova, was also eliminated on Wednesday, falling to Diane Parry in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(1).

The home country had a disappointment early on Wednesday when Katherine Sebov was bounced in her second round by ninth seed Daria Saville. After exchanging holds to start the match, it was all Saville, who won the next 11 games in a row to advance to the quarter-finals 6-1, 6-0.

Sebov was coming off her first career WTA match win on Sunday.

Canada’s Marina Stakusic put up a fight in her second ever WTA match, but ultimately met the same fate as her countrywoman, falling to 10th seed Marta Kostyuk in three sets. The first set was tight, with the women exchanging breaks twice before the Canadian took it in a tiebreak.

As the match went along, Kostyuk began to establish control. An early break in the second for the Ukrainian was enough to send the match to a decider, where Kostyuk broke serve every time Stakusic stepped up to the line to secure a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1 win.

A third Canadian, 17-year-old Cadence Brace, was defeated in the final match of the day by Xiyu Wang 7-6(4), 6-1.

Brace started well, leading by a break in the opening set and holding a pair of set points on Wang’s serve at 5-3. But she was unable to convert and then failed to serve out the set, ultimately dropping it in a tiebreak. The second was dominated by Wang, who broke the young Canadian twice on her way to the quarter-finals.

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