Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, serves the ball to Jessica Pegula, of the United States, during the third round of the U.S. Open last month in New York.Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez battled past Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3 on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Ningbo Open.
The 24-year-old from Laval, Que., needed three hours to defeat the world’s 122nd-ranked player and improve her career record against Sasnovich to 2-2.
Fernandez, ranked 30th in the world, overcame 53 unforced errors and eight double faults to win her second straight three-set match. Sasnovich committed 73 unforced errors.
She converted eight of 15 break-point opportunities, compared with five of six for Sasnovich, and sealed the victory on her first match point.
Fernandez will next face Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, who advanced Wednesday when third-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine withdrew from their match with an injury.
Kostyuk’s withdrawal also secured the final spot at the season-ending WTA finals for Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Kostyuk needed to reach the Ningbo final to keep her qualification hopes alive.
Muchova joins Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina and Linda Noskova at the Nov. 8-15 event in Indian Wells, Calif.
Fernandez and Kostyuk’s scheduled doubles quarter-final Thursday against top seeds Nicole Melichar of the United States and Cristina Bucsa of Spain was cancelled following Kostyuk’s injury.
Andreescu named to BJK Canadian team
Bianca Andreescu, Kayla Cross, Gabriela Dabrowski and Ariana Arseneault will represent Canada at next month’s Billie Jean King Cup playoffs in Brazil.
Tennis Canada announced the four-player roster Wednesday for the Nov. 20-21 tie in Vitoria, Brazil, which will be contested on outdoor clay courts.
Eighth-ranked Canada will face 19th-ranked Brazil in a best-of-five series, with the winner advancing to the 2027 qualifiers.
Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is coming off her biggest tournament victory since 2019 after winning a WTA 125 event in Italy on Sunday.
Dabrowski, ranked fourth in the world in doubles, will make her 21st Billie Jean King Cup appearance and could face her regular doubles partner, Brazil’s Luisa Stefani.
Canada, which won the competition in 2023, has a 12-0 all-time record against Brazil but is coming off a 3-1 loss to Kazakhstan in the qualifiers earlier this year.
With files from the Associated Press.
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