Australian Open: Andreescu returns with victory, Marino wins first Grand Slam match in a decade

All of Canada’s tennis players that were in action on Monday at the Australian Open started the first Grand Slam of the season with a victory.

The first day of the Open saw Félix Auger-Aliassime, Bianca Andreescu, Rebecca Marino, Milos Raonic, and Denis Shapovalov win their matches.

READ: Canadian tennis players to watch at the Australian Open

For the first time since the WTA Finals in October 2019, Andreescu was back in action. The US Open champion was originally to compete in the Grampians Trophy tournament last week, but withdrew to focus on training for the Australian Open.

The decision paid off for her, as she defeated Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in her first match in 15 months. She will play Hsieh Su-wei in the second round.

Returning with a win after an even longer time off was Rebecca Marino. The Toronto native scored a win against Australian Kimberly Birrell in two straight sets of 6-0, 7-6.

The 30-year-old retired in 2013 due to depression, before deciding to return to tennis in September 2017. She began to slowly climb up the rankings before suffering from a foot injury during the summer of 2019. It looked like Marino was facing another setback last year in April when her father passed away due to prostate cancer. However, she decided to continue to try and qualify for the Australian Open, achieving this goal last month.

Marino will face 19th seed Markéta Vondroušová tomorrow in the next round.

Over in the men’s singles, Raonic easily defeated his opponent Federico Coria of Argentina 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Raonic will look to improve on his results from last year’s Australian Open, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Raonic will face Frenchman Corentin Moutet for his second match.

Easy does it for @milosraonic to kick off his #AusOpen campaign.

He takes out Federico Coria in a clinical 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 decision.

How far can Milos go in Melbourne this year? pic.twitter.com/llZjYS3vvX

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) February 8, 2021

Less than a day after playing in the Murray River Open final, Auger-Aliassime did not slow down, winning his first match against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. This is the first appearance in the main draw of the tournament for the 20-year-old Quebec player.

Auger-Alisassime will play Australian James Duckworth tomorrow.

The last Canadian player to play, Shapovalov, did not disappoint his fans as he put on quite a show, winning his first game against Italian Jannik Sinner in five sets of 3-6, 6-3, 6- 2, 4-6, 6-4. Shapovalov has reached several semifinals in tournaments like the Davis Cup, Italian Open, St. Petersburg Open and the Paris Masters in recent seasons.

The look of someone who breaks in the opening game of the deciding set @denis_shapo | #AO2021 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/3qnMTVocOK

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 8, 2021

For the second round Shapovalov will play Aussie Bernard Tomic.

Competition continues Tuesday in Melbourne with matches featuring Leylah Annie Fernandez and Vasek Pospisil in singles competition. Gaby Dabrowski and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. will play their first doubles match, and Toronto native Sharon Fichman will also be in doubles action with Giuliana Olmos of Mexico.

Some of Canada’s singles players will also play in the doubles tournament. Pospisil and Shapovalov will play together, Auger-Aliassime will play with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, while Fernandez is teaming up with British player Heather Watson.