Katherine Sebov of Canada plays a backhand return to Caroline Garcia of France during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. Vancouver's Rebecca Marino and Toronto's Sebov have advanced to the second round of the Miami Open.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Aaron Favila
MIAMI – Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino and Toronto’s Katherine Sebov have advanced to the second round of the Miami Open.
Marino moved on with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
Sebov, who qualified for the main draw on Monday, posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Linda Fruhvirtova of Czechia in the first round. Fruhvirtova, ranked 50th in the world, came into the tournament 122 places ahead of Sebov in the WTA rankings.
Marino didn’t face break point and dominated on serve with 10 aces.
She converted two of 10 break point chances and won 62.7 per cent of available points in a dominant second set.
Marino will face sixth-seeded Coco Gauff next at the WTA 1000/Masters 1000 event. The American beat Marino in the first round of the 2022 French Open in the only other meeting between the players.
Sebov broke Fruhvirtova eight times on 12 chances in a match where both players struggled to hold serve. Sebov was broken six times on nine chances.
Sebov was accurate on her first serve 81.8 per cent of the time, while Fruhvirtova landed just 51.2 per cent of her first serves and hit into 13 double faults.
Sebov will next face third seed Jessica Pegula of the United States.
The other Canadians in the women’s singles draw were scheduled to play their first-round matches Wednesday.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., was set to take on Britain’s Emma Raducanu in a matchup of former U.S. Open champions, while Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., was scheduled to face Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.
