Canada's Marina Stakusic falls short of French Open qualification
Defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic will head to Paris minus 2024 title win
Marina Stakusic's bid for her first entry in a Grand Slam main draw has fallen just short.
The 19-year-old tennis player from Mississauga, Ont., fell 6-3, 6-2 to Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva on Friday in the final round of qualifying for the French Open.
Stakusic defeated 10th seed Marina Bassols Ribera of Spain and Croatia's Antonia Ruzic before falling to Starodubtseva, who was ranked 29th in the women's qualifying tournament.
Gabriel Diallo qualified for the men's draw Thursday and joins fellow Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the men's draw.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., who is making her return to action after missing nine months with a back injury, are in the women's draw.
WATCH | Andreescu ousted from 2023 French Open in 3rd round:
Djokovic loses to 44th-ranked Machac
Novak Djokovic will defend his French Open title in Paris still without a trophy this season after losing in the Geneva Open semifinals on Friday.
The 44th-ranked Tomas Machac beat Djokovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 in the last clay-court event to prepare for Roland Garros, where main draw play starts on Sunday.
"Of course I am worried. I haven't been playing good at all this year," Djokovic said.
His record in 2024 dropped to 14-6 overall and 0-3 in semifinals, including at the Australian Open against Jannik Sinner.
"I don't consider myself a favourite there," the top-ranked Serb said of his chances at Roland Garros, where he's won two of the past three titles and three overall among his men's record 24 Grand Slam singles titles. "I'm going to take it match by match and see how far I can go."
It was the fifth time Djokovic had his service broken and he also made 27 unforced errors.
"If you play against Novak you just hope and try to play your best and see how it looks," Machac said in an on-court interview.
Djokovic warmly greeted the Czech at the net, and smiled as he walked off court, applauding the fans.
Djokovic took a medical timeout after the first set for a stomach issue.
"It was a terrible feeling with stomach and health today. It was not a great night and today as well," he said. "I don't want to take anything away from his win, he deserved it."
Machac will play his first tour final on Saturday against two-time Geneva champion Casper Ruud, the French Open runner-up for the past two years, or the unseeded Flavio Cobolli. Their semifinal did not start on time because of a lengthy rain delay.
WATCH | Shapovalov ousted at Geneva Open on Thursday:
With files from The Associated Press
