Leylah Annie Fernandez is displaying no indicators of slowing down on the first WTA 1000 of the yr as she added Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng to her checklist of upsets in Doha.
After a spherical one shock of twelfth seed Liudmila Samsonova adopted by a comeback in opposition to former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, the younger Canadian picked up her recreation once more to attain simply her second Prime 10 win because the 2021 US Open, taking down Zheng 7-5, 6-3.
In her spherical two win over Badosa, the break factors got here shortly and sometimes, however in opposition to Zheng in spherical three it was all about opportunistic tennis. There have been 5 whole break factors within the match for each girls mixed, 4 on the Chinese language’ serve of which three had been transformed by Fernandez.
The Canadian cleaned up her serve on this match which helped hold Zheng at bay, successful 74 per cent of her first serve factors and a formidable 67 per cent of her seconds, whereas feasting on her opponent’s second serve, claiming 61 per cent of these factors.
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It was Zheng drawing first blood halfway via the opening set, utilizing her large hitting to interrupt for a 4-3 lead. Nevertheless, Fernandez hung powerful and acquired a little bit of luck to get again on serve when her return clipped the web wire and died on Zheng’s aspect on break level because the Chinese language served for the set.
From 3-5 down, the Canadian reeled off 5 video games in a row to steal the opening set and maintain to open the second, together with breaking once more within the twelfth and closing recreation of the primary set.
There was little between the 2 girls within the second as Zheng continued to blast away from the baseline whereas Fernandez absorbed all the pieces thrown at her.
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The match in the end got here down to at least one level within the sixth recreation, the place on break level the Canadian ripped a backhand return to get management of the purpose earlier than drawing an error with an enormous forehand to interrupt for a 4-2 lead.
That was the one break level of the set and Fernandez by no means gave Zheng an opportunity to get again within the match, dropping only one level in her closing two service video games.
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Thus far in Doha, Fernandez has taken out two seeds and a former world No. 2, however the street is not going to get any simpler within the quarter-finals because the Canadian will meet one other Prime 10 opponent, world No. 4 Elena Rybakina, for a spot in her first WTA 1000 semifinal.
