A two-part Sunday for the Canadians at the Madrid Tennis Open. The day started with a sparkling victory for Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu but continued with the elimination of Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez.
Andreescu smashed eighth-ranked American Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-1 in a morning second-round match.
A few hours later, in a duel of left-handers, Fernandez, 17and seeded, lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann in a clash that lasted 90 minutes.
Andreescu needed just 69 minutes to reach the third round, where she will face Jessica Pegula, also of the United States, in a match slated for Tuesday.
Pegula, ranked 14and in the world, knocked out Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday.
“I knew I had to deliver a very good performance because [Collins] has been successful lately. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this at all. But I stuck to my game plan and it worked,” Andreescu said in comments posted on the WTA website.
After saving a break point in the second game, Andreescu took the lead in the first set by winning the next game on Collins’ serve. The Canadian did it again in the fifth and seventh games of the opening set.
Andreescu’s supremacy continued with two more breaks, en route to a 4-0 lead in the second set. This is where the Canadian had her only failure of the day when Collins broke.
Andreescu responded immediately with his sixth break of the match before ending the duel on his serve on his third match point.
“What I did well today was to stay in the present moment, and I said to myself that the match was not over until it was, even at 6 -1, 4-1. She started hitting the ball harder, and sometimes she would fall in play, sometimes not. What she tried to do was smart because it put more pressure on me. If I hadn’t held on, she could have come back into the game,” Andreescu also said.
Since conceding the second set to American Alison Riske in the first round of the tournament, Andreescu, 111and in the world, won 18 of the next 20 games.
This victory will ensure Andreescu to climb among the top-100.
“I’m trying to go up the hill and the other day, we thought it would be good if it didn’t take too many games to get there. I was happy to come back to this area and I found all the tics that helped me in my past matches. It really helps. Even small gestures like touching the line or hitting his sneakers with his racquet help a lot. »
Fernandez eliminated
For his part, Fernandez conceded a break of service in the third game of the opening set, and Teichmann was able to protect him to win the first set in 43 minutes.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the second set. They then managed to protect their serve until Fernandez flinched in the ninth game when she sent a backhand into the net.
The Swiss went on to win the four points on her serve in the next game, the last following a long backhand from the Quebecer.
Teichmann will play her next match against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who advanced to the next round following the withdrawal of Czech Katerina Siniakova. Rybakina had won the first seven games when Siniakova abdicated.
Elsewhere, in another second-round duel, Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine edged No. 9 Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-3, 6-0.
In the third round, Kalinina will battle Britain’s Emma Raducanu who had no trouble beating Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1.
Russia’s Daria Kasatkina also earned her ticket to the third round when she came from behind to defeat Greece’s Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. She will face Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, who defeated Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-1.