Canadians Stéphanie Dubois and Rebecca Marino move on at Wimbledon

Three Canadians in the second round for the first time since 2000

It was a busy day for Canadians on Tuesday at Wimbledon as four were in action at the All-England Club, site of the oldest and most prestigious tournament on the tennis calendar.

After Milos Raonic’s impressive performance yesterday, Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC) and Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) followed in the footsteps of their compatriot by winning their opening round matches. Dubois, who earned a spot in the main draw following the withdrawal of Kim Clijsters, played a very clean match en route to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over American qualifier Irina Falconi. It was sweet revenge for the 24-year-old Canadian who lost to Falconi in the final round of qualifying at the U.S. Open last year. This the second Grand Slam main draw win for Dubois in her career. She also reached the second round at the U.S. Open in 2009. Dubois will face eleventh seeded German Andrea Petkovic in the second round on Wednesday.

For her part, Marino enjoyed a strong serving day and hit 30 winners to post a 6-3, 7-6(5) triumph over Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria in under 90 minutes. The 20-year-old has now reached the second round of the last four Grand Slam events dating back to last year’s U.S. Open. Marino will meet 29th seed Roberta Vinci of Italy in round two. Vinci won a grass court tune up event last week before coming to London. This marks the first time since 1995 that two Canadian women have advanced to the second round at Wimbledon. 

Dancevic and Wozniak eliminated

Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) and Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) came close to joining their fellow Canadians in the second round, but ultimately came up short. Wozniak fell 7-6(7), 6-4 to Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strykova and Dancevic gave up a two set lead and two match points in a 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-2 loss to Brazil’s Ricardo Mello. This is the end of the grass court season for the two Canadian Wimbledon qualifiers.