Photo : Martin Sidorjak
While singles success proved elusive at the 2021 French Open, Canada continues to excel in the doubles.
A day after Gabriela Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez reached the second round in Paris, Toronto’s Sharon Fichman breezed into the third round alongside partner Giuliana Olmos of Mexico with a straight-sets win.
Fichman and Olmos were in control most of the way through their second-round match, winning eight of the last nine games to beat the Spanish-American pair of Laura Arruabarrena and Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 6-1.
The match was close at start, with the first break of the match not coming until the end of the opening set. After letting a double set point opportunity slip away on Dolehide’s serve at 4-5, 15-40, the Rome champions converted their third set point to break and take the opening set 6-4.
Olmos had to save three break points on her serve in the opening game of the second set, the only break points against the North American pair in the match.
Fichman and Olmos responded by breaking immediately in the next game, with Fichman drawing an error from Arruabarrena on break point to take a 2-0 lead.
They added another break two games later, hitting Dolehide with a passing shot on break point, on their way to a straight sets victory.
The Canadian-Mexican pair were solid on serve, putting 69 percent of their first serves in play, winning 70 percent of those points and an impressive 80 percent of second serve points. They converted three of their seven break opportunities while saving all three against their own serve.
Fichman and Olmos will look to reach their second Grand Slam quarter-final of the season on Sunday. Their opponent will be determined later on Friday.
