Finalist last year at the United States Open, Leylah Annie Fernandez was shown the exit door in the second round on Wednesday. The Quebecer lost in two sets of 6-3 and 7-6 against Liudmila Samsonova.
Updated yesterday at 11:29 p.m.
It is not for lack of effort that Fernandez lowered the flag. But no matter how much she saved five match points, the Russian was simply too strong.
Samsonova is the player of the hour on the WTA Tour. She has just won the Cleveland and Washington tournaments in quick succession and this victory against Fernandez is her 12e right now.
On the other hand, the Quebecer arrived in New York without rhythm. She suffered a stress fracture in her foot in June, which caused her to miss several weeks of activity. She bet everything on the last major tournament of the season and saved herself a lot before participating. She played little, and it showed at the start of the match. Quickly, his opponent took the upper hand.
At 1-1, Fernandez got broken. His serving efficiency, accuracy, agility and decision-making were lacking. On the other side, Samsonova showed that although she is ranked 35e world rank, she has the level to compete with the best players on the planet. His forehand was extraordinarily effective both in parallel and crosswise as well as uncrossed. The tall, six-foot right-hander made short work of Fernandez in the first set and finished it off by smashing her opponent on the final play of the set.
Fight until the end
However, Fernandez had seen others. The 14e world racket came back stronger and his discomforts seemed to disappear, or at least fade away. She took her game up a notch, she could respond to her opponent’s arrows and she was more efficient in all phases of the game. At 2-2, in particular, the left-hander distinguished herself by standing up to the Russian by winning a point that had seemed to slip through her fingers from start to finish.
With her fist in the air, Fernandez served several winners and it was a different player who showed up in the second set. Nevertheless, Samsonova hadn’t won her last 11 games for no reason. Powerful, fluid and constant, she fought with dignity against a Fernandez who had everything to gain and, above all, many points to defend.
On numerous occasions, the 23-year-old was seen rounding the ball and unleashing a ferocious forehand down the line.
That didn’t seem to intimidate Fernandez though. While trailing 6-5, the Quebecer served to survive. She managed to erase five match points in the same game by forcing her opponent to multiply the errors.
However, in the decisive game, it was too much for Fernandez. She was a little less efficient on serve and Samsonova seized the opportunity. The game’s sixth match point was fatal and the finalist for the 2021 edition must already pack up.
Due to this premature defeat, Fernandez will slip in the standings and drop from 14e at the 38e position.
Auger-Aliassime also eliminated
PHOTO JULIA NIKHINSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Felix Auger-Aliassime
The week of Quebecers will have been short in the Big Apple. Just minutes after seeing his compatriot collapse, Félix Auger-Aliassime also delivered a performance below expectations. The sixth seed was shown the way out by Jack Draper, 53e world racket.
The 20-year-old Briton knocked out Auger-Aliassime by winning three identical sets 6-4.
The Quebecer was only a shadow of himself, being irregular on serve and committing 41 unforced errors. Even if the advantage was clearly on Auger-Aliassime’s side, Draper is having a good time these days, having eliminated Stéfanos Tsitsipás just a few weeks ago at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
What hurts even more for Auger-Aliassime is that he had many points to defend since last year, at this same tournament, he reached the semi-final. It remains to be seen to what extent this poor performance will affect his ranking, as he tries to finish the season among the top eight players in the world to be able to participate in the ATP final series.