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Marketa Vondrousova knows she has a target on her back as she begins play in the National Bank Open at the National Tennis Centre in Montreal.
“There will be more expectations on me to win after Wimbledon, said the 24-year-old Czech, who shed her reputations as perennial runner-up when she defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the prestigious grass court event.
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Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the Grand Slam tournament, defeating four seeded players for her first tournament win since she triumphed at Biel, Switzerland, as a 17-year-old WTA Tour rookie.
Vondrousova almost didn’t make it to the final at Wimbledon. In the quarter-finals, she trailed Jessice Pegula 1-4 in the deciding third set and the American had a break point for a 5-1 lead. Vondrousova saved that point and won five consecutive games for the victory.
Vondrousova had another comeback in the final. Jabeur broke her at love to take a 4-2 lead in the first set, but Vondrousova won 16 of the next 18 points to win the set and had the only break in the second set.
When she was asked Friday when she knew she could win at Wimbledon, she replied: “When I was up 6-4, 5-4 in the final.”
Wimbledon was Vondrousova’s second Grand Slam final and it went better than the 2020 French Open, when a 19-year-old Vondrousova won only four games against Ash Barty.
Despite the one-sided loss, most experts saw a bright future for Vondrousova, who combined powerful ground strokes with a strong tactical game. But she experienced problems with her left wrist and she was out of action for six months last year while recovering from a second operation. She was ranked No. 44 going into Wimbledon and arrived in Montreal as a career-high No. 10. She is seeded ninth here and will play her first-round match against Mayar Sherif of Egypt.
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Qualifying play began Saturday and a young Canadian provided some drama in the opening match on centre court.
Marina Stakusic, an 18-year-old from Mississauga who is No. 414, went toe-to-toe and saved two match points before losing to American Alycia Parks 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Parks, who is No. 48, and Venus Williams share the record for the fastest server at the U.S. Open (129 miles an hour), but the serve was more of a hindrance for Parks on Saturday. She had 10 aces, but also served up 17 double faults, including two on break points.
“I wasn’t happy with the result, but I’m happy with the way I played because I’ve been off since January with a knee injury and this way only my second tournament back,” Stakusic said. “I knew she had a big serve and it was tough to return, but the match showed I can play with these top players. There were times I could sense that I frustrated her, but there were times when I was getting frustrated, too.”
Westmount’s Eugenie Bouchard, who is continuing her comeback from shoulder surgery, showed only brief glimpses of the form that brought her to a No. 5 ranking in 2014 and she ran out of gas in the final set and lost to American Danielle Collins 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.
Bouchard, who was making her first appearance in the Canadian Open since 2019, has a 4-13 lifetime record in the event.
Leylah Fernandez’s younger sister, Bianca, lost to Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3.
Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon earlier this year, but the 28-year-old Stanford grad was no match for Spaniard Cristina Bucsa, losing 6-3, 6-3.
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