Photo: Martin Sidorjak/Tennis Canada
There are no Canadian women left in the singles competition at the Australian Open after Rebecca Marino was defeated in straight sets by Marie Bouzkova on Tuesday in Melbourne.
After getting into the main draw with three wins in qualifying, Marino had no answer for the world No. 80, who broke serve four times on her way to the 6-1, 6-3 victory.
The other Canadian in the women’s singles draw, Leylah Fernandez, was upset earlier in the day.
Bouzkova dominated the match, winning 79 percent of his first serve points and only losing nine total points on her serve. Marino did her best to dictate play, hitting twice as many winners as her opponent 18 to 9, but also had more than four times as many unforced errors with 32 to the Czech’s seven.
Marino started the match well, holding serve in the opening game and then pushing Bouzkova to deuce before the Czech completely took over. Bouzkova broke serve in the following game for a 2-1 lead, part of a run of seven straight games that saw her take the opening set in just 33 minutes and then grab the early lead in the second.
The Canadian managed to stop the run by holding serve for 1-all in the second set, saving three break points to avoid an early deficit. But Marino was unable to turn that into any momentum and gave away the break her next time up to the line with a backhand error on break point.
Errors would haunt Marino as the set went on, with a routine midcourt forehand long at 2-4-, 30-all denying her a look at a break back. That miss was the Canadian’s last chance to get back in the match, as Bouzkova served it out the next time up.
Marino is now 1-3 in Grand Slam play since coming out of retirement in 2017, the lone win coming last year at the Australian Open.
Canada very nearly went 0-for-3 in singles on Tuesday, but Félix Auger-Aliassime was able to recover from two sets to one down to advance, joining Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
