Monday Digest: Stakusic Wins Biggest Career Title Yet in Mexico – Tennis Canada

Marina Stakusic, the month of October, and a Canadian playing in Mexico: Three things that just seemed destined to produce a big result. 

The rising Canadian star picked up the biggest win over her career last week as she comes full circle from her breakout in the fall of 2023. And she was not the only Canadian to raise a trophy at that same event as Rebecca Marino once again matched a career-best result with a victory in Mexico. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

Under the Radar: Canadians Clean Up in Tampico 

In 2024, Mexico has been a place where Canadians have generally played well, but they took it to another level last week at the WTA 125 event in Tampico, where Marina Stakusic and Rebecca Marino both walked away with trophies. 

Stakusic scored the biggest win of her career to-date, winning her first WTA 125 singles title. It is the fourth professional singles title of her career but first at a WTA-run event. Her previous best result was a pair of ITF W60 titles in 2023.  

Unseeded in Tampico, Stakusic got to the final with the loss of just one set, in the quarter-finals against Lucrezia Stefanini, knocking off two seeds along the way (No. 7 Robin Montgomery in R2 and No. 6 Sara Sorribes Tormo in the semis). In the final, the 19-year-old battled past No. 5 seed Anna Blinkova in three sets to claim the title. 

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Blinkova had prevented an all-Canadian final by beating Marino in the semis. 

The Canadian veteran did not leave Tampico empty-handed, however. She teamed up with American Carmen Corley to win the doubles title, the second WTA 125 doubles title of Marino’s career. 

After back-to-back match tiebreak wins in their first two rounds, Marino and Corley got a walkover in the semis before beating Alina Korneeva and Polina Kudermetova in straight sets to claim the title.  

Liam Draxl and Cleeve Harper joined the Canadian winner’s parade last week, teaming up to win the doubles at the ATP Challenger event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

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The Canadian tandem won three straight match tiebreaks, including in the semifinals against the second seeds, to reach the final, where they defeated the top seeds Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac in straight sets for the title. 

It’s Draxl’s third ATP Challenger doubles title of 2024 and the second for Harper. The victory is their second at the Challenger level together and third professional title as a team. 

Canada very nearly had a win in each discipline last week as Juan Carlos Aguilar reached the final at the ITF M25 event in Norman, Oklahoma, but lost in the final, denying the Great White North of a men’s singles title to go along with the men’s doubles, women’s singles and doubles won elsewhere. 

Quebec played host to the ITF W75 Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay last week. Click here to read the full tournament recap. 

Toronto plays host to the ITF this week for the Tevlin Challenger, which was won by Stakusic in 2023 although the Canadian will not be defending her title, instead focusing on a WTA main tour event. 

In Case You Missed It: Quarter-Final Strikeout 

Last week on the main tours, a trio of Canadians had a couple of chances to make deep runs but tripped over the same hurdle. 

Bianca Andreescu, Leylah Annie Fernandez, and Denis Shapovalov all reached the quarter-finals of their respective events but all three lost on Friday in the last eight. 

The two women were competing at the same event, the WTA 500 event in Tokyo, and both fell in the quarter-finals. Andreescu was beaten by Katie Boulter while Fernandez was edged in three sets by the eventual champion Qinwen Zheng. 

Read also: Qinwen Zheng and the Emergence of Chinese Tennis

Over in Europe, Shapovalov reached the last eight at the ATP 500 event in Basel where he lost a nail-biter in a third-set tiebreak to the eventual champion Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The big-serving French had snapped Félix Auger-Aliassime’s 11-match winning streak in Basel in the second round, ending the Canadian’s bid for a three-peat in northwest Switzerland. 

Just by reaching the quarter-finals, Shapovalov leapfrogged back over Gabriel Diallo in the rankings to position himself to be Canada’s No. 1 singles player at the upcoming Davis Cup Finals. 

After his second-round loss to Mpetshi Perricard, Auger-Aliassime announced on his social media channels that he was ending his season early, withdrawing from this week’s Paris Masters and the 250 event in Metz the following week.  

What to Watch: Fernandez’s turn for title defence 

Last week was Félix Auger-Aliassime’s shot at a title defence. This week, it’s Leylah Annie Fernandez’s turn as she eyes back-to-back titles at the Hong Kong Tennis Open. 

The 2023 champion is seeded third and will kick off her defence against Heather Watson. Fernandez would face either Ana Bogdan or Kimberly Birrell in the second round.  

Her first potential seeded opponent is No. 9 Bernarda Pera in the quarter-finals. Fernandez is in the top half with No. 1 seed Diana Shnaider, whom Fernandez has beaten in both previous meetings, both of which took place in the last three months.  

Fernandez has successfully defended a title before, going back-to-back in Monterrey in 2021-2022. 

Marina Stakusic and Rebecca Marino will look to keep the good times rolling in Mexico this week, this time at a tour-level WTA 250 event in Merida.  

The Tampico singles champion opens her campaign against Maya Joint and could play No. 7 seed Tatjana Maria in the second round. No. 2 seed Nadia Podoroska is her projected quarter-final opponent. 

Marino opens against Maja Chwalinksa and could play top seed Renata Zarazua in the second round.  

You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.