Canada's Fernandez advances to round of 16 at Qatar Open
DOHA, Qatar — Canada's Leylah Fernandez is off to the round of 16 at the Qatar Open after a 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain's Paula Badosa on Tuesday.
The Laval, Que., native had an opening set to forget, having all six of her break point chances saved and having three converted against her, in addition to three aces from Badosa.
However, Fernandez turned it around saving five of Badosa's six break point opportunities along with the Spaniard committing eight of her 10 double faults in the final two sets of play.
Fernandez won 63.5 per cent of her first-serve points, while breaking on four out of 15 chances.
She is set to face fifth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China next.
Fernandez withdrew from the doubles tournament in Doha following the victory over Badosa.
She was scheduled to team with Georgia's Oksana Kalashnikova in a round of 16 match against the top-seeded duo of Belgium's Elise Mertens and Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2024.