Leylah Annie Fernandez posted arguably crucial singles win of her 2023 season on Sunday afternoon at Roland-Garros. The 20-year-old Canadian upset no. 21 seed Magda Linette of Poland 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to succeed in the second spherical of the clay court docket Grand Slam in Paris.
Wins have been onerous to come back by for Fernandez this 12 months, however she employed the proper ways towards Linette and executed her recreation plan nicely regardless of a couple of hiccups alongside the best way. Within the opening set, she reeled off 5 straight video games from 1-3 all the way down to safe a lead within the match. Linette turned the tables in set two in swift trend as she raised her degree and appeared poised to hold all of the momentum into the decisive third body, however Fernandez had different plans. She steadied herself in spectacular trend despite the fact that she battled a wayward service toss all through the competition. She was the aggressor in many of the rallies, doing her greatest to remain near the baseline and take the ball early. She used her backhand very successfully to achieve the benefit within the factors. Fernandez constantly put stress on the Linette serve within the third set and eventually transformed her seventh break level probability within the eighth recreation to earn a 5-3 benefit and efficiently served out the match to ebook her spot in spherical two on Wednesday when she is going to face Danish qualifier Clara Tauson.
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“It was a really troublesome match; I’ve recognized Magda for a really very long time. We’ve all the time had good coaching periods and good matches. At all times three units – so I knew it was going to be a troublesome match and I’m very pleased with the best way I fought, particularly within the third set, I didn’t give away many free factors,” Fernandez mentioned in her post-match interview.
That is Fernandez’s second win over Linette in three matches and her second overcome the Pole at Roland-Garros. She additionally beat her in Paris in 2020 which was her first profession victory over a seeded participant at a Grand Slam. Sunday’s win is very large for the Canadian who’s defending quarter-final factors from her spectacular run at Roland-Garros final 12 months. As for her subsequent match, Fernandez and Tauson met within the 2019 junior Australian Open last with the Dane popping out on prime. They’ve but to play one another on the professional degree.
On Monday, three extra Canadians will start their singles campaigns in Paris with Félix Auger-Aliassime dealing with Italian veteran Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov taking up American Brandon Nakashjma, and Rebecca Marino going up towards Diana Shnaider. Catch all of the motion on TSN and RDS.
