Quebecer Leylah Fernandez and her Ontario compatriot Denis Shapovalov were eliminated in the third round of the Miami Open on Sunday, so that there are no longer any Canadians competing in singles.
Shapovalov (126th) lost 6-3 and 7-6 (7) to Italian Matteo Arnaldi (38th), not without giving his opponent a hard time at the end of the second round.
“Shapo” notably managed a break – his only one of the match – when Arnaldi was serving for the match, at 5-4. In the tiebreaker that followed, he erased a first match point and gave himself a set point without being able to force an extra set.
The maple leaf representative slammed five aces and won 78% of rallies when his first ball was in play. However, his success percentage with his second ball dropped to 50%.
It was a second duel between the two men. Shapovalov had the upper hand last year, in the second round of the Wimbledon tournament.
Fernandez (35th) lost 7-5, 6-4 to American Jessica Pegula (fifth).
Fernandez committed four double faults and won 58.6% of her points on first serve. She realized three of her nine break chances.
Pegula committed only one double fault and won 70.5% of her points on first serve. She broke her opponent five times in 13 occasions. Fernandez advanced to the next round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Colombian Emiliana Arango on Saturday.
In women’s doubles, Ontarian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealander Erin Routliffe defeated Japanese Miyu Kato and Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi in two sets of 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
Earlier in the day, in the women’s main draw, the third world player Coco Gauff (third) won 6-4, 6-0 against Frenchwoman Océane Dodin (84th), securing her ticket to the fourth round.
This was the second time in his career that Gauff advanced to the fourth round in Miami.
Dodin led 4-2 in the first set, but Gauff then won 10 games in a row. The Frenchwoman didn’t help her cause by committing nine double faults during the match.
Gauff has lost just one of his last 23 matches in the United States. The American lost to Maria Sakkari earlier this month at the Indian Wells tournament.
Gauff, 20, is the youngest American to be one of the top three seeds at the Miami tournament.
The reigning US Open champion will face Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (27th), who defeated Naomi Osaka (229th), four-time major tournament champion, 7-6 (4) and 7-5.
In the men’s section, Italian Jannik Sinner (third) defeated Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (26th) 5-7, 7-5 and 6-1.
The Dane Holger Rune (seventh) was eliminated. He lost 6-1 and 6-1 against the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (57th).