Marina Stakusic

Canada’s Marina Stakusic put up a valiant effort, but ultimately fell to Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round of the National Bank Open on Sunday.

The 142nd-ranked Stakusic, in her fourth appearance at the NBO, was making her main draw debut in Montreal after bowing out in the second round of last year’s tournament, held in Toronto.

The 20-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., got off to a strong start, breaking Cristian in the Romanian’s very first service game to go up 2-0 in the opening set. The Canadian broke her opponent again in the eighth game to take the opening set 6-2.

Cristian wasted little time, however, getting on the board in the second set, breaking Stakusic at love in the opening game. The Romanian, currently ranked a career-high 49th in the WTA rankings, would go on to break her opponent twice more as she evened the match at a set apiece.

The third set played out almost identically to that of the second, with Cristian taking the opening game on Stakusic’s serve. The Bucharest native then broke twice more on her way to her first-ever win in her first career appearance at the NBO.

Cristian will now play Czechia’s Linda Noskova in the second round. Noskova, the 20th seed of the tournament, is coming off a runner-up finish at the Prague Open, where she lost Saturday to compatriot Marie Bouzkova in three sets.

Stakusic set the table for what promises to be a busy day for Canadians on Montreal’s Centre Court. 

Highly-touted 18-year-old Victoria Mboko is set to make her main draw debut at the National Bank Open later this afternoon against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell. Toronto’s Mboko has had a breakout 2025 season on tour, qualifying for both the French Open and Wimbledon, where she reached the third and second round, respectively.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., will open up the night session against two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova. The 25-year-old Canadian, who won the NBO in Toronto in 2019, is coming off a strong showing at the Hopman Cup last week in Italy, as she teamed up with Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to capture the exhibition team tournament. Andreescu won all three of her singles matches in straight sets, dropping only nine games at the competition.

Action concludes on centre court with Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino taking on French qualifier Elsa Jacquemot. The 34-year-old Marino has struggled this season, winning just one WTA Tour-level match all season.

Sunday marks the start of a revamped 12-day, 96-player format, which will notably see the top 32 seeds receive automatic byes into the tournament’s second round. Action continues daily at IGA Stadium through until the final, set for Aug. 7.

Live coverage throughout both the men’s and women’s NBO tournaments is available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.