Photo: camerawork usa
Leylah Fernandez continues to shine in New York as she wins her second doubles match and fifth match overall at the 2021 US Open.
Late Saturday afternoon, Fernandez and her partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand defeated all-American duo Robin Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-4 in their second-round match.
Fernandez and Routliffe had the slight experience advantage over 16-year-old Montgomery and 17-year-old Krueger heading into today’s battle. It was the young Americans’ first Grand Slam appearance in doubles (Montgomery did play in the singles draw of the US Open in 2020.)
The Canadian-New Zealand duo found a way to win the important points, converting on 4/5 break point opportunities and saving all three break points they faced.
They will play an all-Romanian duo in the third round, No.60-ranked Monica Niculescu and No.206-ranked Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
End of the road in New York for Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil’s US Open campaign has come to an end after suffering a 7-6(12), 7-6(4) loss to No.6-seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecău of Romania.
Despite being knocked out of the tournament, there are some positives Pospisil can take away from his time in New York. The Vernon native had a terrific first match in singles against Fabio Fognini – winning 2-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(4) – and also recorded his first doubles win at the US Open since 2014.
Today’s contest was evenly matched, as Pospisil and partner Frederik Nielson put up a good fight against the tournament No. 6 seeds.
In the first set, it was only the German and Romanian duo that had looks at break. However, Pospisil and Nielsen managed to fend off all seven break points – sending the first set to a tiebreak.
It was the Canadian and his Danish teammate with the first set point opportunity in the tiebreak, but, back-to-back double faults from Nielson gave the opposition their chance to win the set.
Numerous set points were saved by both teams until an eventual ace from Tecău sealed the set for the No. 6 seeds.
The second set looked a lot like the first, as the servers held all of their service games. The only major difference between the first and second set was Pospisil’s fat lip. He took a Tecău ball to the chiclets in the third game but was able to continue after a laugh and a brief medical timeout.
The second set tiebreak was faster than the first. Krawietz and Tecău went up two mini breaks, eventually winning the tiebreak 7-4.
Dabrowski falls in mixed
Gabriela Dabrowski and Australian partner Marcus Daniell lost their round of 16 match 6-3. 6-3 against Dayana Yastrameska and Max Purcell.
The Canadian-Australian duo struggled to win points on their serves in today’s match, winning only 58 per cent of points on first serves compared to their opposition winning 90 per cent of points on theirs.
Dabrowski now shifts her focus towards women’s doubles. The Canadian and her partner Luisa Stefani face Shelby Rogers and Petra Martić in the second round on Sunday.
