Photo : Martin Sidorjak
Canada will have two more chances at Grand Slam Glory this weekend at Roland-Garros.
Both Leylah Annie Fernandez and Rob Shaw were victorious in their respective doubles semis on Friday at the French Open.
Fernandez and partner Taylor Townsend avenged their loss in the Miami final back in April by defeating second seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula to reach the women’s doubles final. Shaw and Heath Davidson outlasted Koji Sugeno and David Wagner in a match tiebreak to advance to the quad wheelchair doubles final.
For Fernandez, it is a first major doubles final and she becomes the second Canadian to reach at least one Grand Slam final in both singles and doubles, just days after Bianca Andreescu became the first. It is Shaw’s second major final, having reached the title match at the US Open last summer.
Like Andreescu, Fernandez put a disappointing run in singles behind her quickly and translated it to doubles success. She and Townsend were all over Gauff and Pegula from the start, dominating the match from start to finish as their incredible run as a pair continued with a 6-0, 6-4 win.
The serve was key for the Canadian/American team, as they won 78 per cent of their first serve points and saved all six break points they faced. They took the aggression to Gauff and Pegula, hitting 24 winners to the second seeds’ seven.
Fernandez and Townsend wasted no time in taking control of the match, breaking in their first return game.
While they had to fight occasionally to hold their serve, facing a couple of deuces in the opening game and saving two break points in the fifth, they were dominating every time Gauff and Pegula stepped up to the line. A break to love game them a 4-0 lead and then another break to 15 wrapped up the bagel set in just 26 minutes.
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Gauff and Pegula settled down in the second set and got on the board with a hold for 1-1. They then began applying more pressure, holding three break points in a seven-minute third game and another in the seventh game. But the aggressive hitting from Fernandez and Townsend bailed them out as they found a pair of winners and drew two more errors to deny all four break point chances.
When the door opened for the Canadian/American team, it came at the perfect moment. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Gauff and Pegula played a sloppy game with two errors and a double fault to go down love-40, triple match point. They saved the first two before one more winner from Fernandez and Townsend sent them into the final.
Standing between Fernandez and a first major title is the tandem of Su-Wei Hsieh and Xinyu Wang. Hsieh is a four-time major champion, including the French Open in 2014, but this is her first final at any level with Wang, who is competing in a doubles final above the WTA 250 level for the first time.
Shaw Picks his Moments to Advance
Rob Shaw came into the French Open with momentum after reaching a final last week and he has parlayed it into a run in Paris, advancing to his second major final.
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Efficiency was the name of the game for Shaw and his Australian partner Heath Davidson. They put more of their first serves in play, won more of their second serve points, and took more advantage of their break point opportunities in their 7-6(7), 4-6, [10-1] win.
The first set was a battle of returns, as eight of the first ten games were breaks. Those breaks were distributed evenly, however, and the set eventually required a tiebreak, although both pairs had to save break points in their final service game of the set.
Sugeno and Wagner had a chance to claim the opening set when they led the tiebreak 6-4 with the first set point on their racket, but Shaw and Davidson turned it around just in time, winning five of the next six points to steal the first set.
Serve was a little more sacred in the second set, with just one exchange of breaks midway through the first set until Sugeno and Wagner made their move late. As the Canadian/Aussie pair served to stay in the set at 4-5, they found themselves down double break point and could not escape as the match was sent to a super tiebreak.
After Sugeno and Wagner took the first point of the match tiebreak, Shaw and Davidson dropped the hammer. They won 10 consecutive points to claim the breaker and advance to the final.
The quad wheelchair final will take place on Saturday.
