[MONTREAL, QC] October 28, 2024 – On Sunday, Croatia’s Petra Marcinko claimed her first singles title of the season at the 17th edition of the Saguenay National Bank Challenger, defeating Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) in the championship match. Marcinko, who is just 18, climbed 49 spots in the WTA rankings and currently sits at No. 258.
Marcinko was making her first professional appearance in Canada last week, and it couldn’t have gone better for the former Australian Open Junior Championship winner. En route to the final, she overcame No. 6 seed and defending champion Katherine Sebov of Toronto, Ontario, as well as Stacey Fung of Vancouver, British Columbia, and seventh-seeded Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia. Marcinko’s only dropped set in Saguenay, Quebec came in her match against Koevermans.
Koevermans, 20, is another rising star on the women’s circuit and also entered the finals without dropping a set throughout the week. She spent the month of October in Canada, reaching the quarter-finals or better at the National Bank Challengers in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, and now Saguenay. Despite her loss to Marcinko, the Dutch player has ascended into the WTA Top 200, where she is ranked 191st, her best career ranking.
In the doubles draw, Americans Dalayna Hewitt and Anna Rogers, the No. 2 seeds, defeated top-seeded Belgians Magali Kempen and Lara Salden 6-1, 7-5 in the finals. This was their first title as a team.
Canadians clean up at Abierto Tampico
While it wasn’t the best tournament for the Canadians in Saguenay, it was a week to remember at the WTA 125 event in Tampico, Mexico.
On Saturday, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino took to the court first alongside her American partner Carmen Corley, where they defeated Polina Kudermetova and Alina Korneeva in just over an hour by a score of 63, 6-3. This marks Marino’s first doubles title since 2021 and fifth overall.
Toronto’s Marina Stakusic, who had to go through qualifying, had herself a dream run, eliminating two seeded players en route to the final, No. 7 Robin Montgomery of the United States and No. 6 Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain. In the championship bout, 19-year-old Stakusic took down fifth-seeded Anna Blinkova in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to claim the biggest title of her young career. Stakusic is inching ever closer to the Top 100, with a career-best ranking of No. 116.
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Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth, development and promotion of tennis in Canada and a vision to be a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier National Bank Open presented by Rogers WTA and ATP Tour events, it financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada, as well as operating more than 60 events nationally across junior, wheelchair, university and Masters tennis categories. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and masters tennis national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our website at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram.
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