It’s a new personal best for Leylah Fernandez at the French Open…
The 19-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player outlasted USA’s Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in their fourth-round match on Sunday in Paris, France to reach her first-ever quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Fernandez’s opportunities abound in a decimated women’s singles draw that lost nine of its top 10 seeds in the first week.
Only world No. 1 Iga Swiatek remains. She’s in the other half, and the two could only meet in the final.
“It was a very hard match, an incredible match for the both of us. I think we brought a high level,” Fernandez said of the win over Anisimova.
The American was a women’s singles semifinalist at age 17, in 2019, the year 16-year-old Fernandez won the junior girls’ title.
Since then, their careers have gone in somewhat opposite directions.
“I’m just glad that today I was able to fight through some difficult moments and just enjoy the game as much as possible,” Fernandez added.
Fernandez, now based in Florida, will next face No. 59 ranked Martina Trevisan, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (10), 7-5 in the fourth round on Sunday.
Fernandez is the first Canadian woman to make the Roland Garros quarterfinals since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.
