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

MELBOURNE, Australia 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2024..