Three Canadians advance to final round of qualifying at Australian Open

January 10, 2024 - 9:40pm

Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino returns the ball to Qinwen Zheng, of China during the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Toronto, on Aug. 9, 2022. Marino advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Ukraine's Daria Snigur on Wednesday. (Christopher Katsarov/CP)

Katherine Sebov will face Rebecca Marino in an all-Canadian battle for a spot in the main draw of the Australian Open.

Toronto's Sebov beat Ysaline Bonaventure in the second round of qualifying for the Grand Slam on Thursday (in Australia) when the Belgian retired after falling behind 4-0 in the third set.

Meanwhile, Vancouver's Marino beat No. 23 qualifying seed Jessika Ponchet of France 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2.

Sebov qualified for her first career Grand Slam last year in Australia.

On the men's side, No. 29 qualifying seed Gabriel Diallo of Montreal beat France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the second round.

Diallo, 22, will face No. 8 qualifying seed David Goffin of Belgium in the final round. A win will send Diallo to the first Grand Slam main draw of his career.