Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez worked hard before defeating Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 5-7 and 7-6 (4) on Wednesday to reach the round of 16 of the Open Wuhan tennis.
Fernando, 28e world racket, took two hours and 55 minutes before sealing the outcome of her meeting against Rakhimova, 66e player in the world, on Chinese cement.
The Laval resident will meet in the next round with the Chinese Zheng Qinwen, gold medalist at the Paris Olympic Games, who defeated the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 6-4.
Fernandez started the match against Rakhimova on a high, but she was unable to maintain the pace. The representative of the maple leaf was very messy in her game from the second round onwards, and she concluded the match with a total of 12 double faults – compared to only two for her rival.
Additionally, Fernandez converted five of her 12 break points, while Rakhimova managed four breaks in 10 opportunities. Both players also scored an ace each during their duel.
Elsewhere, Ontarian Gabriela Dabrowski and her New Zealand playing partner Erin Routliffe came from behind to defeat Chinese Wang Yafan and Xu Yifan 0-6, 6-4 and 11-9 in the round of 16 of the tournament women’s doubles.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, the tournament favorites, will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Russian Irina Khromacheva in the quarter-finals. They defeated the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa and the Romanian Monica Niculescu 4-6, 6-0 and 10-8.
Sabalenka remains undefeated in Wuhan
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka continued her unstoppable streak in Wuhan by ousting No. 37e World racket Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion of the tournament who received a bye for the second round, stole the serve of her Czech rival twice in each set — in addition to being broken once — to win in the end one hour and 34 minutes.
In the third round, the 26-year-old Belarusian will meet Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who stopped Paris Games silver medalist Donna Vekic 6-4, 3-6 and 6-4.
The reigning U.S. Open champion is now 13-0 in Wuhan, after winning the title in her first appearance in 2018 and defending her title the following year. The tournament was canceled for the next five years, due to health restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the WTA’s boycott of China.
Sabalenka must reach the quarter-finals in Wuhan to steal world number one from Iga Swiatek. The Pole is conspicuous by her absence during this Asian tour, citing fatigue and personal reasons. Additionally, she recently cut ties with her trainer Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Gauff wins against Tomova
On the other hand, six Americans played in the second round on Wednesday.
China Open champion Coco Gauff manhandled Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-2 in 75 minutes, while Hailey Baptiste surprised the 10e world racket Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5. It was her first victory against a top-10 player in the world.
For her part, Magdalena Frech beat sixth seed Emma Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while world No. 11 Daria Kasatkina overcame a mid-match slump to defeat the American Bernarda Pera 6-4, 1-6 and 6-1.
Amanda Anisimova retired during her duel against No. 17e world player Marta Kostyuk.
The third player in the world, Jessica Pegula, advanced to the round of 16 after taking advantage of Anastasia Potapova’s retirement while the American led 6-2, 2-0.
Then, at the end of the day, Erika Andreeva won her first career duel on the WTA circuit against her sister Mirra 6-3, 6-1 in 90 minutes.