Laval’s Leylah Fernandez reached the fourth round of the Indian Wells Tennis Open on Monday night with a three-set victory of 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 over American Shelby Rogers.
For Fernandez, the 18th seed in the tournament, it is a first victory in three clashes against Rogers. The two players met last October at the same tournament, and Rogers came from behind to snatch a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) win.
This time, the Lavalloise won the final set thanks to a major break in the second game of the set, which helped her build a 2-0 cushion.
As of this stage of the duel, Fernandez has conceded just one point in the last four games on his serve. She notably had a streak of 17 points earned on her serve in the third set.
Fernandez cemented the victory on her first match point when Rogers sent a forehand into the net.
In the fourth round, Fernandez will face 5th-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain, who defeated compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo 7-6(4) 6-1 on Monday. Badosa is the defending champion at Indian Wells.
“Shelby is an excellent tennis player. She’s playing amazing and she’s got great serve,” Fernandez said in his post-match on-court interview.
“I tried to focus on my game, reduce some mistakes I had made in my other two games (against Rogers). I am happy, during the few points that were important, to have been able to put the ball in play and get the victory,” she added, to the applause of her supporters, some of whom clearly showed their allegiance by unfurling a Canadian flag.
Shapovalov defeat
Earlier in the day, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov suffered the elimination in the third round.
In the aftermath of Félix Auger-Aliassime’s surprise defeat at the hands of Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, Shapovalov let slip a set lead to zero before losing 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6- 4 against the American giant Reilly Opelka.
Against a rival renowned for the power of his serves, Shapovalov dominated in terms of aces, 12 against 11. On the other hand, he committed 10 double faults against only one on the part of Opelka.
Shapovalov, who got a bye straight into the second round, also gave himself more break chances than his opponent. However, Opelka saved all four break points he faced.
In addition, the American was able to exploit two of his three break chances. He first broke the service of the Canadian in the third game of the second set, Opelka repeated the blow to Shapovalov in the opening game of the deciding set.
It was Shapovalov and Opelka’s second career encounter. In January, in the third round of the Australian Open, Shapovalov won in four sets.