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Third time was the allure for Rebecca Marino towards Zhu Lin in 2023 because the Canadian defeated her Chinese language opponent in straight units to advance on day one of many Madrid Open.
It was a third meeting already this year between the pair, with the primary two going the best way of Zhu. However of their first conflict on clay, it was the Canadian racing out to an early lead and refusing to let her opponent claw the match away as Marino held on for a 7-6(1), 6-4 win. The victory is available in Marino’s first-ever match at a WTA 1000 occasion on clay.
The Canadian’s powerhouse serve was clicking on Tuesday as Marino fired 11 aces and received 73 per cent of her first serve factors. She saved 5 of seven break factors whereas changing three of her eight alternatives.
Marino wasted no time in making an attempt to set a special tone from their earlier two matches this 12 months, breaking serve on the first alternative as she raced out to a 3-0 lead. She then had a pair of break factors to take a stranglehold on the set however was unable to transform.
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That proved expensive as Zhu broke again within the following recreation and finally leveled the set at 3-all.
The back-and-forth continued as Zhu broke to set herself as much as serve out the set at 6-5, solely to be damaged to like as Marino pressured a tiebreak that she would dominate. The Canadian scored a minibreak for 2-0 and by no means appeared again, dropping only one extra level as she salvaged a gap set she had practically let slip away.
It was Marino’s flip to outlive an early storm at the beginning of the second set as she confronted 5 break factors in her first two service video games however was capable of survive to remain on serve at 2-2.
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This time, it was Zhu who paid the value for failing to transform her alternatives because the Canadian received her first break level of the set to maneuver forward 4-3. Marino didn’t let this lead slip away, serving out the match on her second match level.
Awaiting Marino within the second spherical is 24th seed Elise Mertens.
Bouchard Again in Spanish Capital
Earlier within the day, the Canadian main-draw crew expanded by one as Eugenie Bouchard certified with a straight-set win over Elizabeth Mandlik.
Bouchard dropped simply seven whole video games in two qualifying matches, main 6-1, 4-1 when Sara Sorribes Tormo retired in spherical one adopted by a 6-3, 6-2 win over the American to say her spot within the 96-woman main draw, joining Marino, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Annie Fernandez.
Simply by getting into qualifying, it was the Canadian’s first time taking part in in Madrid, not to mention the primary draw, since 2017 when she beat Alize Cornet, two-time Roland-Garros champion Maria Sharapova, and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber on her approach to the quarter-finals. That run was the final time Bouchard received previous the second spherical at a WTA 1000 occasion.
Her first-round match will likely be simply her third match and second main-draw appearance at a WTA 1000 since 2019. Her opponent is but to be decided.
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