Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls short of French Open qualification
Marina Stakusic’s bid for her first entry in a Grand Slam main draw has fallen just short.
The 19-year-old tennis player from Mississauga, Ont., fell 6-3, 6-2 to Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva on Friday in the final round of qualifying for the French Open.
Stakusic defeated 10th seed Marina Bassols Ribera of Spain and Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic before falling to Starodubtseva, who was ranked 29th in the women’s qualifying tournament.
Stakusic’s loss means five Canadians will compete in the main singles draws at Roland-Garros.
Gabriel Diallo qualified for the men’s draw Thursday and joins fellow Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the men’s draw.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., who is making her return to action after missing nine months with a back injury, are in the women’s draw.
WATCH | Andreescu ousted from 2023 French Open in 3rd round:
Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko took only 62 minutes to eliminate Bianca Andreescu in the third round of the French Open in straight sets (6-1,6-1).
Djokovic loses to 44th-ranked Machac in Geneva
Novak Djokovic will defend his French Open title in Paris still without a trophy this season after losing in the Geneva Open semifinals.
The 44th-ranked Tomas Machac beat Djokovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 in the last clay-court event to prepare for Roland-Garros, where main-draw play starts on Sunday.
Djokovic’s record in 2024 dropped to 14-6 overall and 0-3 in semifinals, including at the Australian Open against Jannik Sinner.
Machac took his first match-point chance which came on Djokovic’s serve and clinched when the top-ranked Serb pushed a backhand long.
It was the fifth time Djokovic had his service broken and he also made 27 unforced errors.
“If you play against Novak you just hope and try to play your best and see how it looks,” Machac said in an on-court interview.
Djokovic warmly greeted the Czech at the net, and smiled as he walked off court, applauding the fans.
Machac will play his first tour final on Saturday against two-time Geneva champion Casper Ruud or the unseeded Flavio Cobolli.
WATCH | Shapovalov ousted at Geneva Open on Thursday:
Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands began the day down 6-7(7), 3-3, but rallied to a 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 6-3 to eliminate Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the Round of 16 at the Geneva Open.
