Fernandez, Eala thrill Toronto crowd with wins at National Bank Open
TORONTO — Leylah Fernandez salvaged a victory for Canada on Wednesday night to cap a rough 48-hour stretch for the country’s tennis program.A couple hours later, rising Filipino star Alexandra Eala gave National Bank Open presented by Rogers tournament organizers a double dose of good news.The 30th-seeded Fernandez, from Laval, Que., downed Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 6-2, 6-2 on Centre Court in a second-round match before Eala delighted a loud, capacity crowd with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Alycia Parks of the U.S. The city’s large Filipino community came out in full force for the 20th-seeded Eala, selling out the session within hours of the schedule being announced last week.Fernandez, whose mother also is Filipino-Canadian, was the last player from the home country remaining in either the women’s or men’s singles draws before she even took to the court for her first match. Like all seeds, she got a bye in the opening round.“I knew that I was the last Canadian standing. My dad specifically said that before I walked on court,” Fernandez told reporters while enjoying a chocolate ice cream bar in her post-match press conference“I guess that kind of lit a little fire in me, because you know, I've always said that we have a lot of Canadians, young Canadian tennis players who are doing extremely well. And I want to be able to kind of motivate them to keep going and to keep believing in themselves.”Hours earlier, top Canadian men’s hope Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew from the men’s NBO in Montreal with a back injury. On Tuesday, Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo retired from their matches with injuries.And, of course, defending women’s champion Victoria Mboko of Canada had to drop out with a knee injury that kept her out of Wimbledon and also has forced her to take a pass on the upcoming US Open.But with the 13 other Canadians entered in the tournaments’ main draws eliminated, Fernandez stepped up. She had a 17-5 edge in winners and won five of six break points. After shaking hands with her opponent, Fernandez grabbed her phone and spun in a circle to shoot a video of the celebratory scene.It was a much different story than last year in Montreal when Fernandez had to play her first match on a Tuesday afternoon after winning the DC Open tourney title 48 hours earlier. Fernandez fought back tears after a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Maya Joint and then criticized tournament organizers for their scheduling."At the end of the game, I was seeing the crowd, and it was I think the first time in the whole match where I really looked up and took everything in,” Fernandez said. “That's why I wanted to videotape the whole thing because it was such a special moment for me.“It hasn't been the greatest year, but we've always like talked about resetting, refocusing, every week is a new week.”In the midst of a rough year in which she was 13-20 overall heading into Wednesday and a first-round loser at all three Grand Slams to date, Fernandez overpowered the 73rd-ranked Zarazua. She brought in Eric Hechtman, a former coach of Venus and Serena Williams, to work with her prior to the North American swing after spending most of her career with her father, Jorge, as her lead coach.Fernandez, the world No. 34, will be an underdog in her next match Friday as she faces No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva. The 19-year-old Russian won the French Open this year and also beat Fernandez in straight sets at a clay-court event in Madrid.“If I play Leylah, for sure it's going to be tough,” Andreeva said after crushing Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-0 on Wednesday afternoon. “Starting with that she's playing at home, so obviously the crowd is going to support her.“At the same time, she's an amazing player. The last time we played against each other it was a very tough match … I'm sure that it's going to be a very entertaining match for people, and a super tough match for both of us.”Another Eala-Fernandez doubleheader seems like a sure thing Friday night.Eala, 21, was coming off a three-set win over Jessica Pegula in the DC Open final, completed Monday after rain halted play following a set and three games Sunday. She is the first Filipino to have won a WTA Tour event.Eala-mania has been building for months, with large, loud crowds cheering her at every stop.“The Filipino community (is) super proud. They're proud of anybody who comes from the country, who are part Filipino. I definitely felt that when I came on to the scene,” said Fernandez, who lost to Eala in the Round of 16 last week in Washington."The fan base is super amazing, loving. And any country, any parts of the world, you're going to see a couple Filipino flags. And they're going to come and watch my match, Eala's match, and it's a super loving community.”Just one of the 10 top seeds is out at the tournament. No. 6 seed Linda Noskova, playing for the first time since winning Wimbledon last month, lost 7-6 (5), 6-1 to Caty McNally of the U.S.No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina and No. 3 Pegula both won three-set matches on Wednesday to move on.Eala will be back on Centre Court on Thursday night as she teams up with Venus Williams in doubles.
