Tag Archives: Jasmine Paolini

Leylah Fernandez Upsets Madison Keys at Rothesay International to Reach First-Ever Grass Court Final

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Leylah Fernandez has pulled off an upset…

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian professional tennis player has booked her spot in the women’s final of the Rothesay International, after an upset win over Madison Keys on Friday in Eastbourne, England.

Leylah FernandezFernandez scored a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Keys.

The world No. 30, Fernandez will next face Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, who scored a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 semifinal victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, on Saturday.

The title match will be Fernandez’s sixth career final but first on grass and first at a WTA 500 level or above since the 2021 U.S. Open.

Fernandez, who reached the Birmingham quarterfinals earlier this month, is pleased with her grass-court form ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.

Defeating Keys, ranked 12th and a two-time Eastbourne champion, only bolsters her confidence for the upcoming Grand Slam event.

“We’ve been working super hard the past couple of months [and] the past couple of years, so I am super happy with the results these past few weeks,” said Fernandez.

“It’s good preparation for Wimbledon, but we are just going to focus on [Saturday’s] final.”

Leylah Fernandez Helps Lead Canada to Country’s First-Ever Billie Jean King Cup Title

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Leylah Fernandez has helped Canada make history…

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player and her compatriot Marina Stakusic won their singles matches as Canada beat Italy 2-0 to claim its first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title on Sunday.

Leylah FernandezStakusic, ranked 258th in the world, put Canada ahead by defeating No. 43 Martina Trevisan 7-5, 6-3 for the biggest win of her career, then Fernandez sealed the victory by beating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3 at La Cartuja Stadium.

The 20th-ranked Fernandez, runner-up in the 2021 US Open, was perfect for Canada in Seville with four victories, while the 18-year-old Stakusic entered the tournament without a win over a top-100 opponent but earned three of them while representing her nation in Spain.

“I’m so happy and honored that I could play this week,” Stakusic, who didn’t play a WTA main draw match this year, said on court. “This has been the best week of my life.”

Canada defeated 11-time champion Czech Republic in the semifinals, while four-time champion Italy advanced past Slovenia for its first final appearance since 2013.

The 12-team BJK Cup Finals offered a record total of $9.6 million in prize money, including $2.4 million to the champions, the same as the men’s Davis Cup.

Canada, captained by Heidi El Tabakh, is the 13th nation to win the Billie Jean King Cup and the second new champion after Switzerland‘s triumph in Glasgow a year ago.

“I don’t know what to say,” El Tabakh said. “I’m so proud of this team. These girls are incredible. It’s a dream come true.”

The Canada men’s team is the current Davis Cup champion.

The women’s teams competed in four round-robin groups, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The United States was eliminated by the Czech Republic in a group that also included title-holder Switzerland.

The biggest team competition in women’s tennis started two days after the end of the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, which featured the top eight players on the tour — including winner Iga Swiatek.

Leylah Fernandez Leads Canada to Maiden Billie Jean King Cup Finals

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Leylah Fernandez has pulled off two big upsets to help lead Canada into a historic first appearance in the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player pulled off gripping upset wins in singles and doubles at the Billie Jean King Cup in Seville, Spain on Saturday.

Leylah Fernandez Behind Fernandez’s two victories, Canada stunned 11-time champion Czech Republic 2-1 in Saturday’s semifinals. Canada, whose lone previous trip to the event’s semifinals was in 1988, will take on Italy for their first Billie Jean King Cup title on Sunday.

Four-time titlist Italy reached the championship match of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals for the first time in exactly a decade after Martina Trevisan and Jasmine Paolini picked up singles wins at the prestigious team event earlier on Saturday.

Canada had to battle back from a match down to reach the milestone. 2021 Roland Garros singles champion Barbora Krejcikova started the semifinal tie with a 6-2, 6-1 win over rising 18-year-old Marina Stakusic, who was facing a Top 10 player for the first time in her career.

However, Fernandez leveled the tie at 1-1 by upsetting reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Vondrousova had won her last 11 Billie Jean King Cup singles matches in straight sets — including a win over Fernandez in 2019 — but the Canadian ended that streak.

Fernandez earned the fifth Top 10 win of her career with the victory — and her first Top 10 win since she beat three Top 5 players en route to the 2021 US Open final. Fernandez had gone 0-7 against Top 10 players between the 2021 US Open and Saturday’s win.

Shortly thereafter, Fernandez returned to court, where she paired with reigning US Open doubles champion Gabriela Dabrowski to face the seven-time Grand Slam-winning duo of Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, with a trip to the final in the balance.

In the first set of the doubles match, there were no break points for either team until 5-5, where the Canadians broke through after Siniakova double faulted on deciding point. Dabrowski then held serve at love to squeak out the opening set.

The second set was even closer and went down to the tiebreak, where Fernandez slammed a backhand winner down the line to earn the first mini-break at 3-2. The Canadians never relinquished that advantage, holding on for a 7-5, 7-6(3) win and booking a historic spot in the final.

Caroline Garcia Defeats Jasmine Paolini to Reach Poland Open Final

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Caroline Garcia is one step closer her ninth WTA title…

The Spanish-French tennis player defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-2 at the Poland Open on Saturday to advance to her 12th career final, where she will face Ana Bogdan.

Caroline GarciaGarcia will seek her ninth career WTA title and second this year after winning the grass-court Bad Homburg Open.

Garcia, who a day earlier ended top-ranked Iga Swiatek‘s clay-court winning streak, broke her 10th-seeded Italian opponent four times to improve to 3-0 against her.

The former world No. 4 served six aces on a rainy day in Warsaw en route to her 17th win in her past 20 matches.

Bogdan reached her first career WTA final by defeating Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine 7-5, 7-5.