Canada’s Rebecca Marino qualifies for main draw at Qatar Open

DOHA, Qatar – 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 Czechia 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.

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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2023.