Canada's Marino falls to Pegula in opening round of Australian Open

January 16, 2024 - 9:50am

Rebecca Marino of Canada plays a backhand return to Jessica Pegula of the U.S. during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP Photo)

Vancouver's Rebecca Marino is out of the Australian Open after dropping a 6-2, 6-4 decision to American Jessica Pegula in the first round on Tuesday.

Pegula, the tournament's fifth seed, landed 72 per cent of her first serves, while Marino struggled with her service game and landed just 44 per cent.

The American also fended off four of five break-point attempts in a match that lasted 65 minutes.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., the No. 32 seed, won her opening match over the weekend and was scheduled to meet unseeded American Alycia Parks on Wednesday (Tuesday evening Eastern Time) in a second-round match.

Also Wednesday, Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe - seeded fourth in women's doubles - were set to meet Linda Fruhvirtova of Czechia and American Ashlyn Krueger in the opening round.

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime, the lone Canadian still competing in the men's singles draw, was scheduled to play Hugo Grenier of France in second-round play.

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