For a while during a cool afternoon on the great Philippe Chatrier track, it would have been fair to assume that Belinda Bencic was moving away with her third round match at high speed. He had struggled from a disadvantage in the first set to a one-set tie, and then set up a 2-0, 40-0 lead, distancing himself in the final set.
But throughout her short career, Leylah Fernandez, who remained impassive through the net, has shown that those difficult moments with her back to the wall are often when the best version of herself comes up. Fernández recovered the break in that match, overcame five of the next six matches and defeated Bencic 7-5, 3-6 and 7-5 to reach the round of 16 of the French Open for the first time.
It’s been eight months since two teenagers, Fernandez and Emma Raducanu, faced off in the U.S. Open final and not just Raducanu’s experiences have shown the tricky nature of pursuing a revolutionary result. While Fernandez, 19, has won one round in most tournaments and even won the Monterrey Open in February, his second WTA title of his career, this tournament was the only one. quarterfinal he has reached since September.
The Canadian is extremely ambitious and focused, and these results have not lived up to the extremely high standards set. But as Fernandez described his first five months of the season as “up and down,” he valued his progress with astonishing maturity.
“We don’t see it as … how do I say that? – as a failure, the first five months,” he said. “I see it more because I have a lot to improve and I can improve. of tennis, we do a tournament every week and I can only keep working on some technical stuff, some tactical stuff.If it works, it’s great.If it doesn’t work, we can just go back to the drawing board and get ready for the next few weeks and tournaments. “
Leylah Fernandez plays against Reverse Belinda Bencic. Photo: Quality Sport Images / Getty Images
In the time since New York, Fernandez has seen his profile transformed in Canada and has followed a series of endorsements. Her Subway commercial is often aired, she has a new clothing deal with Lululemon and her new outfit is branded with Morgan Stanley and Easypost ads. But most of all, she was determined to replicate the tennis she produced there.
“I think after the U.S. Open I put a little more pressure on myself,” he said. “It’s normal, because I want to replicate what I did at the US Open over and over again. I think after the first few tournaments, I agreed that I wouldn’t play the same way every time.
“I just have to find solutions and keep working hard. I’ve been clinging to it all year, just lowering my head and grinding it every day. “
The Parisian clay courts are a good place for Fernández’s first decent performance in a big one this year. She already has a pedigree on clay: junior champion of the French Open in 2019, a year later she returned as a player in the top 100 and reached the third round. Against Bencic, he showed all the different accents of his game that fit so well on the surface: his heavy left right, the sharp angles he can generate with both wings from all parts of the court and the his fondness for smooth drop shots are. at home on the surface.
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For Fernández and all the other players around him in the bottom half of the draw, this is a huge opportunity. At the start of the day, Bencic, 14th seed, was the top seed in the section after Barbora Krejcikova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Anett Kontaveit, Ons Jabeur and Maria Sakkari lost in the first five games.
Many are young players. Amanda Anisimova, 20, advanced to the fourth round with some luck after Karolina Muchova retired when Anisimova led 6-7 (7) 6-2, 3-0. Coco Gauff, still just 18 years old, calmly managed Kaia Kanepi, 36, to reach the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.