Leylah Annie Fernandez silenced the crowd in her Wuhan Open second-round contest as the 24-year-old from Laval defeated Chinese qualifier Han Shi 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Shi, who stunned Alexandra Eala in the first round, proved to be a tough customer against another lefty in Fernandez. The Canadian No. 2 found it difficult to hit past her opponent in the first set, hitting only five winners, but converted on her only break point. In the second, the recent Singapore champion found her rhythm after trailing 0-3, capitalizing on two of three break points while adding ten winners to her tally.
Fernandez had to work for her service holds early on. The Lavalloise battled through some lengthy rallies before holding to love in the opening game. Then, the 24-year-old faced deuce after leading 40-15 in her next two service games, saving break point at 2-2 to remain perfect on serve.
Despite only winning two points across her first three return games, Fernandez found some daylight on Shi’s serve late in the set. At 3-4, 15-30, the Canadian put away a volley to grasp double break point, which she converted upon the first try. The world No. 25 coupled the break by comfortably serving out the opener.
Shi turned things up in the second, though. The Chinese tallied six winners and just two unforced errors through the opening three games as she took a commanding 3-0 lead.
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Fernandez nearly went down a double break at 1-4, love-40, but instead, she began her push to close out the match. The Canuck won eight-straight points and turned the tables with triple break point at 4-2, love-40, converting on the second attempt. After saving a pair of break points in the ensuing game, Fernandez scored a second-consecutive loss of serve to gain the chance to serve for the match at 5-4.
On match point at 40-15, Shi managed to fight off Fernandez’s attack to stay alive, but the Canadian punched her ticket into the round of 16 on the second time of asking.
Fernandez will meet world No. 34 Jelena Ostapenko in the third round on Thursday.
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It was an unfortunate end to Félix Auger-Aliassime’s time in China, though. The Montrealer was forced to retire at 5-2 in the first set of his Rolex Shanghai Masters fourth-round contest against Casper Ruud due to a knee injury.
Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
