Canada’s Pier Starkusic falls in the first round of the National Bank opening
Canada’s Marina Stakusic did his best but eventually defeated Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the National Bank Open match on Sunday.
No. 142 Stakusic made his fourth appearance in NBO, making his debut in Montreal after bowing in the second round in Toronto last year.
The 20-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario made a strong start, breaking Christian in the first service of the Romanian, up 2-0 in the opening ceremony. The Canadians broke the opponent again in Game 8 to open the ceremony with a score of 6-2.
Cristian wasted very little time, but joined the board in the second set and broke the love in the opening game. The Romanian is currently ranked 49th in the WTA rankings and will continue to break out twice as she plays evenly in the game.
The third set was almost the same as the second set, with Cristian playing his first match on Stakusic’s serve. The Bucharest native then won her first win in her first career in NBO, breaking twice in her first win.
Cristian will now play Czech Republic Linda Noskova in the second round. The 20th seed of the match, Noskova, finished second in the runner-up at the Prague Open, where she lost three sets to fellow countryman Marie Bouzkova on Saturday.
Stakusic will be a table for a busy day for Canadians at the Montreal Center Court.
The highly touted 18-year-old Victoria Mboko will be open to the National Bank at Kimberly Birrell, Australia, late this afternoon. Toronto’s Mboko has a breakthrough 2025 season on the tour, where they qualified for the French Open and Wimbledon respectively, and she entered the third and second rounds respectively.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario will open the night with two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova. The 25-year-old Canadian won the NBO in Toronto in 2019 and performed well in Italy at the Hopman Cup last week as she teamed up with Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to compete in the Exhibition Team Championships. Andreescu won her three singles matches in a row, losing only nine games in the match.
The action ended in the central court when Rebecca Marino of Vancouver accepted the French qualifier Elsa Jacquemot. The 34-year-old Marino has been struggling this season, winning only one WTA Tour game throughout the season.
Sunday marks the beginning of the 96 player format after 12 days, which obviously gives the first 32 seeds automatic BYES in the second round of the game. The action continues daily at the IGA Stadium until the finals every day and is scheduled for August 7.
Live coverage is available on both SportsNet and SportsNetNet+ in both Men’s and Women’s NBO games.
