Canada's Marino out of Qatar Open with first-round loss to Kasatkina

Rebecca Marino of Canada plays a forehand return to Zhu Lin of China during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Marino fell 7-6 (5), 6-2 to Russia's Daria Kasatkina in the opening round of the Qatar Open on Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

DOHA, Qatar - Canada's Rebecca Marino fell 7-6 (5), 6-2 to Russia's Daria Kasatkina in the opening round of the Qatar Open on Tuesday.

The Vancouver native had one ace to four double faults and only won 46.2 per cent of first-serve points. However, Marino went 4-for-8 on break point opportunities.

Kasatkina didn't record a single ace and had six doubles faults of her own. She won 59.3 per cent of first-serve points and broke on six of her 15 chances across the one hour 41-minute match.

Marino made it into the main draw after three consecutive wins in qualifying.

The 32-year-old defeated Ukraine's Katarina Zavatska, Belarus's Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Czechia's Marie Bouzkova between Saturday and Monday.

Marino was the last ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥ remaining as Laval, Que., native Leylah Fernandez was ousted in the final qualifying round on Monday by Czechia's Karolina Pliskova.

This report by ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥was first published Feb. 14, 2023.

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