PARIS - Canada's Rebecca Marino is in unchartered territory at the French Open.
The Vancouver native reached the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time after rallying for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez on Wednesday.
"I'm pretty pleased with the result, no one expected me to do well on clay," said Marino. "I didn't start this match the way I wanted, I had a lot of serving errors. But I cleaned those up and after that it was a different match."
The 60th-ranked woman will get a tough test in the third round against 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No. 13 seed.
"She definitely knows what she's doing on clay, but I don't know what to expect," said Marino. "I'll just go out there and play tennis."
Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., saw her run at Roland Garros end with a tough match against No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki.
She battled hard against the top player in the world before dropping a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) decision. It was an encouraging result for Wozniak, who was playing her first big event since being forced to change the way she grips the racquet because of a right forearm injury.
"It's positive for me since I've not played in a long time," she said. "This match shows I'm on the right way. I felt good on the court in a big match playing the No. 1.
"I had some mistakes on important points but that is due to my lack of matches. I'm excited with how my week went."
Marino surprised herself by overcoming the unorthodox Martinez Sanchez, who plays an old-school serve and volley game.
But the Canadian managed to adapt and pulled out the victory in one hour 53 minutes. She went to the attack and finished with 29 winners.
"I'm pretty confident," said Marino. "I just beat a clay-court player, it won't do any harm. Her style was a bit odd at first, it's not very usual in the women's game to come to the net so much.
"But I got used to it and it was actually a lot of fun playing against a style like that."
Wozniack has a long history with her fellow player of Polish heritage, having lost of eight matches against her.
The No. 162-ranked Canadian missed on three chances in the second set to extend the match. She eventually fell on Wozniacki's first match point after 1:45.
"I got my rhythm in the second set, played more aggressive and stepped in," said Wozniack. "I was being patient and waiting for the right ball. But I still need to improve my game (and) I think it's just a mater of time. She's No. 1 and she played her game in the end.
"I made mistakes which cost me in the second, but now that my injury's gone I can focus fully on my tennis and my comeback."
