Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino kicked off her campaign with determination, encountered a dip, but ultimately fought through two match points to secure her spot in the 145th US Open Tennis Championships on Monday.
Marino claimed the first set of her women’s singles clash 6-3 in just 31 minutes against Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee. However, after dropping the second set 6-2 and trailing 5-3, she staged an incredible comeback to win 7-5, completing the match in two hours and 11 minutes.
Despite committing more double faults than Tararudee (8 compared to 6), and recording fewer aces (9 to 8), Marino rose to the occasion in the final set, breaking her opponent at both 5-3 and 5-5 to secure the thrilling victory.
Marino converted four out of five break points while Tararudee managed only four of eleven. The Canadian won 67% of her points on her first serve, slightly trailing Tararudee’s 73%.
The 34-year-old Marino is set to face Japan’s Mai Hontama in her next match.
In other qualifying action on Monday, American-Canadian Carson Branstine secured her first set 6-3 against China’s Xiyu Wang, but unfortunately fell in the subsequent two sets, losing 6-3, 6-3.
Branstine struggled with a staggering 52 unforced errors throughout her two-hour and 13-minute match, managing only one ace.
Wang outperformed in several key categories, leading in winners (21-18), aces (2-1), and double faults (8-3).
Branstine achieved 70% of her points on first serve, compared to Wang’s 64%. However, Wang capitalized on her break points, winning four of six, while Branstine converted only two of her nine opportunities.
A California native, Branstine holds dual citizenship with Canada, thanks to her Canadian mother.
Meanwhile, Alexis Galarneau from Laval, Quebec, suffered a defeat in his men’s singles match, losing 6-7 (7), 1-6 to Croatia’s Dino Prizmic on Monday.
Each player registered two aces in the one hour and forty-minute showdown, maintaining a first-serve percentage of 81%.
Prizmic outperformed Galarneau with fewer double faults (4-2), winning more games in a row (6-2), and securing more service games (7-5) and tiebreaks (1-0).
With a 63-55 win percentage on first serve, Prizmic excelled on second serves as well, leading 88% to 42%.
Galarneau managed to convert two of his seven break points, while Prizmic was more successful with five of nine break points.
With the US Open festivities kicking off on Sunday, the tournament is set to run for 15 days, culminating in the women’s singles final on September 6 and the men’s singles final on September 7.
Defending champions Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner are the top seeds, with the legendary Venus Williams making her Grand Slam return at age 45.
