Croatia’s Petra Marcinko Takes the Title in Saguenay

Canada’s winning streak on home soil was snapped last week as the fall ITF swing through the Great White North moved east to Quebec for the Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay. Petra Marcinko of Croatia won the singles title while the American duo of Dalayna Hewitt and Anna Rogers were victorious in doubles at the W75 event. 

Marcinko, age 18, nearly swept through the tournament, winning her first nine sets in a row to reach the final and take the lead in the title match against fourth seed Anouk Koevermans before the Dutchwoman won the second set to send the final to a decider. Marcinko edged it out in a tiebreak to be crowned champion with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) win. 

Hewitt and Rogers, the second seeds in the doubles, did not drop a set in three matches on their way to the title. They received a walkover in the semifinals. The Americans bested the top-seeded all-Belgian team of Magali Kempen and Lara Salden 6-1, 7-5 to claim the title. 

The closest the host nation came to lifting a trophy was in doubles, where Kayla Cross, who had won the doubles in both Edmonton and Calgary, and Ariana Arseneault reached the semifinals but withdrew prior to their clash with the Americans. 

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In singles, all four losing quarter-finalists were Canadian. Stacey Fung, Nadia Lagaev, Cadence Brace, and Cross all reached the last eight but were all defeated on the same day, with Fung falling to the eventual champion Marcinko. 

Lagaev, Canada’s highest-ranked junior, reached her first quarter-final in a professional tournament. The 16-year-old defeated fellow youngster Emma Dong in a battle of the top two Canadian juniors in the ITF rankings and then upset No. 3 seed Gabriela Knutson in three sets before falling to the seventh seed Viktoria Hruncakova in the last eight in three sets. 

Katherine Sebov of Toronto was the defending champion but lost in the second round to Marcinko. 

The next stop on the fall Canadian swing will be at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto for the W75 Tevlin Challenger.