Marino starting to 'feel like I belong' with Montreal qualifying run

Canada's Rebecca Marino took the biggest step of her comeback at the qualifying of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, winning against No. 69 Vera Lapko before she fell against No. 53 Qiang Wang in the final round.

The 27-year-old Marino quit tennis in 2013 because she was experiencing depression, but found herself wanting to play again and returned at the beginning of the season. She was unranked when she started, but will now be inside the Top 300.

Even though she didn't qualify, she called it a positive performance.

“I started at $15,000 tournaments, to playing players who had no ranking, to playing a No. 53 in the world, someone who just came off a title in China,” said Marino.

“That’s a steep learning curve. But I feel like I belong on the court with players like that. I just have to remind myself that I belong."

WATCH —TenniStory on Rebecca Marino's battle with depression:

In January, she played $15,000 ITF tournaments in Turkey, and she won three in a row. She also won an ITF event in Japan in April, and back in Canada, won Winnipeg in July.

She was among seven Canadian women to get a qualifying wildcard, and one of two to reach the final round.

When she was just 20 years old, Marino cracked the Top 40 in 2011. Now, she would like to do it again, and knows what will be required.

"I’m looking at this as a platform for the rest of the year," she said. "Matches like that give me hope that I can compete at that level again. It gives me a lot of motivation to continue.

“When you get up to that level, you have to take those chances.”