Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez came from behind to defeat Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the second round of the women’s singles at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament on Thursday.
Fernandez, 26e world champion, overcame the fourth seed after a two-hour and 35-minute marathon on American concrete.
The record between the two players is now 1-1, after Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, beat her earlier this year in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Doha, Qatar.
Fernandez will face Russian Diana Schnaider in the third round, who lost in the semifinals of the National Bank Open in Toronto last week to eventual champion Jessica Pegula of the United States. It will be the first career match between the Canadian and Schnaider.
As was the case the day before, Fernandez took a while to get going against Rybakina.
The latter, a powerful hitter, dominated the Canadian 20-5 in aces during their duel, but Fernandez was able to pull off the game by being more precise than her with her first serve.
Fernandez, who is 21, was also less messy than her opponent in her game, generally speaking. She was able to convert six of her 17 break points against Rybakina, while the Kazakh broke her serve six times from seven opportunities.
The Laval player will be back on the court a little later this afternoon for her second round match in women’s doubles, alongside the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.
Auger-Aliassime reunites with Ruud
For his part, Félix Auger-Aliassime will have a meeting at the end of the evening with the Norwegian Casper Ruud, seventh seed in the tournament.
The Quebecer beat Ruud 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles tournament at the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
Both tennis players have a 3-3 record in their career meetings. Auger-Aliassime, however, won the last two meetings, earlier this year, both times on clay.