Canadians Marino, Sebov out at Miami Open after losing to seeded Americans

MIAMI — Vancouver's Rebecca Marino and Toronto's Katherine Sebov were eliminated from the Miami Open tennis tournament on Thursday after each lost a second-round match to a seeded American opponent.

Marino was defeated 6-4, 6-3 by sixth seed Coco Gauff, while Sebov fell 6-3, 6-1 to third seed Jessica Pegula.

Marino broke Gauff to go up 3-2 in the second set, but the American won four straight games to claim the match.

Sebov started well, trading breaks with Pegula to sit at 2-2 early in the first set. But Pegula took over from there, scoring four more breaks against the Canadian qualifier en route to the victory.

It was Sebov's second career match against a player in the WTA Tour top 10. She lost to world No. 4 Caroline Garcia in the first round of the Australian Open in January.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., faces ninth seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., faces seventh seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in women's second round action Friday.

In men's action Friday, fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and 25th seed Denis Shapovalov play second-round matches after having byes in the first round.

Auger-Aliassime will face the winner of a match later Thursday between Brazil's Thiago Monteiro and Australia's Jason Kubler, while Shapovalov will take on Guido Pella of Argentina.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2023.