(Montreal) You would think so, at first glance, but the elimination of Leylah Fernandez Thursday night at the National Bank Open did not mean that there were no more Canadians at the tournament on Friday. There were still two left, and they did everything to mix things up and extend their stay.
Those two Canadians are Carol Zhao and Marina Stakusic, and on Friday they came close to having to play a second match in a matter of hours on the women’s doubles draw, on Rogers Court at IGA Stadium.
However, they lost their flag by scores of 6-3, 3-6, 6-10 against the tandem formed by the American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and the Australian Ellen Perez, at the end of the afternoon.
Zhao and Stakusic had never played together before this tournament. The first, aged 28, occupies 1508e doubles rank according to the WTA website. Stakusic, 10 years younger than Zhao, ranks 764e.
PHOTO ERIC BOLTE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVE VIA REUTERS CON
Carol Zhao
In their first outing on Wednesday, they defeated the team of Marie Bouzkova and Lin Zhu 6-4, 3-6, 11-9.
On Friday, they battled a duo that ranks in the top 10 in the women’s doubles standings.
In the event of a victory in this match, Zhao and Stakusic would have played at the end of the evening against the team formed by Latisha Chan, from Chinese Taipei, and Zhaoxuan Yang, from China.
Before pairing up in doubles, Zhao and Stakusic had tried to earn their place in the women’s singles draw during the qualifying round last weekend.
Both players were eliminated after their first match of the tournament on Saturday.
