Canada’s Marko Stakusic and Juan Carlos Aguilar lost their flag in the first round of the men’s National Bank Championship in Granby on Tuesday.
On center court, Stakusic lost in straight sets 4-6, 4-6 to Chinese player Juncheng Shang. The winner is the sixth seed in this small ATP event.
The Mississauga, Ontario native still showed great fighting spirit, notably saving six of the eight break points used by his rival.
Stakusic, 19, has used 65% of his first serve attempts and won 71% of rallies in this situation. However, the 1251st player in the world rankings maintained a low success rate of 38% when he had to go with a second ball.
At the same time, Carlos Aguilar lost 6-2 and 6-4 to Colombian Nicolas Mejia on court number 4. The world’s 286th-ranked holder won by collecting five aces and saving six of the seven break points he faced.
Later in the evening, Maple Leaf representatives Justin Boulais and Liam Draxl will be on duty. They meet Clément Chidekh from France and Jordan Thompson from Australia.
In the women’s category, the Canadian duo of Cadence Brace and Marina Stakusic were no match for the fourth-placed, the Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok and the Czech Tereza Mihalikova.
The crowd favorites were defeated in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(1). Brace and Stakusic, who are still competing in the singles component of WTA competition, will return to the field in the coming days.
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