Credit: Kopatsch/Sato/Sidorjak
Leylah Fernandez’s first Olympics has come to an end after the Montrealer lost to French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets on Monday in Tokyo.
The 18-year-old was no match for the ruthless hitting of Krejcikova, who broke serve four times on her way to a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
With the loss, Canada has no players left in the singles draws at the Olympics.
The French Open champion came shooting out of the gate, winning five straight games, including a pair of breaks, on her way to a 5-1 lead.
Fernandez stopped the run with a hold, but was only delaying the inevitable as Krejcikova wrapped up the opening set 6-2 with a hold of her own.
The second set followed the exact same script, with the Canadian holding in her first service game, only to be broken despite battling back from love-40 down in her second as the Czech took another early lead.
Once again, Krejcikova added another break during the five-game run that took her within a game of victory before Fernandez held to stop the streak.
As the Czech served for the match, Fernandez was finally able to do some damage on return, creating her first break point of the match and converting when Krejcikova sent a shot long.
However, the comeback was short-lived. Fernandez held to get to 4-5, but the French Open champion was not going to give away two chances at victory, holding at the second time of asking to advance to the third round.
The Canadian only managed to create the one break point in the match as Krejcikova won 76 percent of her first serve points. Fernandez only won 33 percent of her second serve points.
Canada’s last hope for a medal in tennis lies with Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles, which gets underway later in the week.
