Marina Stakusic's bid for her first entry in a Grand Slam main draw has fallen just short. Stakusic returns the ball against Italy's Martina Trevisan during their final singles tennis match at the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Seville, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Manu Fernandez
PARIS – Marina Stakusic’s bid for her first entry in a Grand Slam main draw has fallen just short.
The 19-year-old tennis player from Mississauga, Ont., fell 6-3, 6-2 to Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva on Friday in the final round of qualifying for the French Open.
Stakusic defeated 10th seed Marina Bassols Ribera of Spain and Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic before falling to Starodubtseva, who was ranked 29th in the women’s qualifying tournament.
Stakusic’s loss means five Canadians will compete in the main singles draws at Roland-Garros.
Gabriel Diallo qualified for the men’s draw Thursday and joins fellow Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the men’s draw.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., who is making her return to action after missing nine months with a back injury, are in the women’s draw.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2024.
