Canadians Marino, Bouchard advance to second round of Chennai Open

CHENNAI, India – Canadians Rebecca Marino and Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the second round of the Chennai Open tennis tournament with wins on Monday.

Vancouver’s Marino, seeded seventh at the WTA 250 event, posted a 7-5, 6-2 win over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.

Marino won 70.5 per cent of first-serve points and broke Blinkova six times on nine chances.

Blinkova had seven break chances against Marino, but only managed to convert three.

Marino is coming off a run to the third round at the U.S. Open that moved her WTA ranking to No. 90, her highest since she was ranked 83rd on Feb. 13, 2012.

She will face Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa in the second round. Kawa defeated Marino in their only other meeting, coming in the first round at Wimbledon earlier this year.

Bouchard picked up her first main-draw win of the year, defeating Switzerland’s Joanne Zuger 7-6 (4), 6-2.

The former world No. 5 from Westmount, Que., was accurate on just 54.2 per cent of first serves, but compensated by converting 54.5 per cent of second-serve points.

Bouchard converted five of eight breakpoint chances while defending three of the six break points she faced.

Next up for Bouchard is a second-round match against India’s Karman Thandi.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2022.