Rebecca Marino ousts Tatjana Malek in opening qualifiers of BNP Paribas Open
Top seeded qualifier Rebecca Marino took down the German Tatjana Malek in the first round qualifiers of the BNP Paribas Open in Indiana Wells, California on Monday evening.
The Canadian took 95 minutes to outplay Malek in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.
World number 61 Marino displayed her brilliant skills to advance to the second round of the qualifiers in Indiana Wells. The 20-year-old Canadian was in sublime form and gave away minimum chances to her opponent.
The Canadian’s overall performance in the competition was quite impressive. Although her first serve percentage of 58 was lower than Malek’s 66 per cent, Marino won 34 out of 46 points on it. She belted six thudding aces in the match but became a bit too
overambitious in the process and committed seven double faults.
Marino gave an aggressive start in the opener. She was quick to analyse the weak spots in her opponent’s defence and then exploited them with great mastery. The Canadian committed five costly double faults in the set but compensated for them by winning 65
per cent of her first serve points.
An early exchange of breaks was seen in the first set, taking the scores to 4-3 in favour of Marino. Malek had break opportunities at five different occasions but only converted two out of them. The German was less effective with her return game, barely
winning 19 of 43 return points. Her double faults count for the first set was four.
Marino kept pressurising her opponent, who started to panic under the circumstances. Malek missed some of the easiest opportunities in the game, showing clear symptoms of anxiety. The Canadian cracked a crucial serve break at 6-5, sealing the first set to
lead 1-0 in the contest.
The second set brought no difference for the German who found no answer to Marino’s cross-court winners. The Canadian served much better than she did in the first set. Her serve percentage was 64 and she amazingly won 83 per cent of the points out of it.
Both contestants bagged a break point to take the scores to 5-5. Marino sensed the opportunity in the 11th game and stung an all-important break point to serve for the match at 6-5. The Canadian had no real difficulty to close the contest at 7-5,
booking a berth in the second round of the qualifiers.
Marino will be squaring off against Petra Cetkovska of Czech Republic in the next round. Cetkovska defeated the 13th seed Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round.
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