Zhu Lin continues to be a thorn within the facet of Rebecca Marino this 12 months because the Canadian fell to her Chinese language rival for the third time in 4 conferences in 2023 on Friday on the Rothesay Basic.
The quarter-final battle in Birmingham was one of many closest of their six conferences, all for the reason that begin of 2022. However after taking the opening set, Marino was unable to shut the door as Zhu fought again for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
Marino had gotten into the primary draw as a fortunate loser after having misplaced within the ultimate spherical of qualifying. The Canadian took benefit of her second likelihood, beating Wang Xiyu and Emina Bektas to achieve her first quarter-final of the 12 months earlier than the three-set loss to Zhu.
As is usually the case on grass and for Marino usually, the serve was key however it left one thing to be desired for the Canadian. Whereas she did hearth 10 aces, she had seven double faults and solely gained 36 per cent of her second serve factors, which was problematic as she solely put 52 per cent of her first serves in play. She confronted a dozen break factors within the match and was damaged 5 occasions.
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It was a sluggish begin for Marino, who confronted break factors in her first service recreation and was damaged within the third recreation. Nevertheless, she responded with a direct break again after which broke once more late to take the opening set.
Regardless of Marino’s ferocious serve and the slick grass floor, Zhu was in a position to apply fixed strain within the Canadian’s service video games. Whereas Marino survived in her first two video games of the second set, she was damaged at 3-3 and this time the Chinese language didn’t let her again in, returning the favour with a break to degree the match at a set apiece.
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Within the decider, Marino spent most of her time defending her serve and by no means had a have a look at a break. Zhu gained the final 4 video games of the match from 2-2, breaking twice to finish the Canadian’s run.
Another week stays earlier than the head of the grass season at Wimbledon. Marino’s finest end result on the All-England Membership was a second-round look in 2011. Regardless of her recreation being well-suited for grass, she has solely made two main-draw appearances on the grass main in her profession.
