Canadian hopes were dashed Sunday at the National Bank Open. The weeklong buzz from Eala-Mania has been hushed, too.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in fourth-round play at Sobeys Stadium. Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic followed with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Alexandra Eala to end the run of the breakout star from the Philippines.
The 30th-seeded Fernandez was broken at 3-3 in both sets. Osaka, the No. 11 seed, closed out the match with her sixth ace to complete the win in one hour 22 minutes.
“It was just these small decisions that made the difference and it just mounted over and over until the end of the (match),” Fernandez said.
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez moves into 3rd round of National Bank Open
Leylah Fernandez posts upset win over Russia’s Mirra Andreeva in National Bank Open 3rd round
Fernandez upset fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva of Russia to reach the Round of 16.
Seven other Canadian players — including former champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont. — were given wild-card entries but all were eliminated in the first or second rounds.
The five Canadians entered in the doubles draw all lost their opening matches. Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski, the world No. 3, played with a substitute partner as her usual partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil was nursing an elbow injury.
The near-capacity crowd on centre court did its best to help lift the 23-year-old Fernandez. Occasional “Let’s Go, Leylah!” chants were heard during breaks on a warm, clear evening at the York University venue.
Both players were content to try to grind the other down with ground strokes. Osaka’s serve was in strong form and her overall consistency proved tough to break down.
Fernandez made some unforced errors in the seventh game of both sets and they proved costly.
In the opener, a wide volley was followed by a backcourt slice that found the net, giving the former world No. 1 three break points. Osaka converted on the first attempt when Fernandez pushed a passing shot out of court.
In the second set, Fernandez netted a backhand volley at 15-30. The Canadian won the next three points and thought she won the game after Osaka barely got her racket on a service return.
Fernandez let the ball go thinking it would land out of court, but the rainbow shot caught both lines in the corner. Osaka went on to break serve again on the way to her 25th win this season.
“I feel like I made some mistakes,” Fernandez said. “I feel like I had some opportunities to take advantage of the moment, of being ahead and putting pressure on her, but I didn’t do a good job of keeping the ball in.”
Osaka’s victory secured her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal appearance since reaching the final at the NBO last year in Montreal. She lost the championship match to Canada’s Victoria Mboko, who was unable to defend her title this year due to a knee injury.
“I think I learned a lot from that,” Osaka said. “I learned to be a lot more calm and just (try) to take it point by point.”
Eala, meanwhile, coming off her first WTA crown in Washington, had her seven-match win streak come to an end. The 21-year-old wowed the crowds all week in her first tournament appearance as a top-20 player.
Earlier in the day, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina and American Coco Gauff earned victories to reach the quarterfinals at the WTA 1000 competition.
The second-seeded Rybakina outlasted Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the early singles match. Rybakina, who had 11 aces, dropped the first three games in the deciding set before pulling out the win in two hours 49 minutes.
Filipino tennis star Alex Eala riding a wave of popularity into Toronto tournament
“I feel like we both didn’t start well,” she said. “Then it became really a fight.”
Gauff, the No. 4 seed, needed only 74 minutes to dispatch Russian qualifier Alina Korneeva 6-3, 6-1.
It was the 89th-ranked Korneeva’s second career appearance in a WTA 1000 main draw. She made it through qualifying in Rome earlier this year before falling in the first round.
Doubles winners included Italy’s Sara Errani and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Britain’s Olivia Nicholls, and Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Play continues through Thursday at the US$7.43-million tournament.
