Canada's Stakusic on to next round of qualifying at National Bank Open

TORONTO — Marina Stakusic's earliest memory of tennis was watching the Rogers Cup at Rexall Centre. The names of the tournament and the stadium have changed since Stakusic was five, but the 17-year-old has now won at least one match at the event that helped her fall in love with the sport.

Stakusic, from nearby Mississauga, Ont., was the only Canadian to advance to the second round of the National Bank Open's qualifying tournament. Toronto's Victoria Mboko and Kayla Cross of London, Ont., both lost their matches on Saturday.

"I came here so many times as a kid and I always wanted to play this tournament," said Stakusic in the media centre at what is now called Sobeys Stadium. "I love Montreal too but Toronto, this is where I grew up.

"I played at this club for many years, so it's really cool to finally be playing the tournament."

Stakusic was beating China's Xinyu Wang 6-1 in the first round when her opponent retired due to injury. She felt that she had the match well in hand when Wang called for an end to play.

"I kind of figured out her game pretty early. That helped me a lot," said Stakusic. "I tried to keep my energy up the whole time and keep moving my feet because I never played in front of such a big crowd.

"That was the main thing, just be relaxed and keep my energy up the whole time."

Stakusic will play Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic on Sunday in the qualifying tournament's second round. She had to play in pre-qualifying matches to even make the qualifiers.

"I'm just going to try and stay as relaxed as I can," said Stakusic. "I mean, I'm definitely not supposed to win tomorrow so there's not too much pressure on me."

The 15-year-old Mboko pushed Claire Liu of the United States to three sets, eventually