A couple of interesting matches happened at the National Bank Open in Montreal and it saw Marino and Sakkari move on. Paula Badosa impressed in her 1st round matchup and the Spanish player has been on a steady rise on the rankings throughout 2021. Unfortunately for her, she ran into an inspire Marino who came back in stellar fashion to win the match.
Badosa came out strong smashing Marino 6-1 in the first set but the Canadian was able to pull out an impressive level in the 2nd set to win it 7-5. Carried by the fact she was playing on native soil, Marino continued to play well in the 3rd setting eventually winning the set 6-4 and the match to move on in Montreal.
Joining her in the 2nd round will be Maria Sakkari who faced a very tricky opponent in Veronika Kudermetova. The Russian player had more doubles success recently than singles but today she put forward a very solid effort. Sakkari had an up and down match but managed to escape with a 2-1 in the end.
It started well for Sakkari who played a solid first set winning it 6-4. The 2nd set started well for Sakkari as she took a 2-0 lead but in the end, Kudermetova was able to level the score and win the set with 7-5. The Russian took the 2-0 lead in the 3rd but this time around Sakkari fought back and eventually took the lead to finish off the set 6-4.