Leylah Fernandez: Canada's next tennis hope surprises in Acapulco
17-year-old Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez reached the first final of her young career at the WTA International tournament in Acapulco.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Feb 29, 2020, 07:29 pm
Fernandez beat wildcard player Renata Zarazua from Mexico 6: 3 and 6: 3, moving into their first final on the WTA tour - and that as a qualifier.
For both players it was the first quarter and semi-final matches at WTA level. Fernandez is currently listed at 190, the 22-year-old Zarazua at 270.
Even if she had to play against local hero Zarazua as well as against the audience, Fernandez drew her strength from this, as she explained afterwards. "I honestly pulled the energy from the audience. I liked that everyone was so loud, so emotional, that helped me too. Even though they cheered for Renata most of the time," she said. "It helped me stay focused." She now hopes that she will get support for it in the final.
In the final, Fernandez meets the British seeded Heather Watson, who won 6: 4, 7: 6 (6) against Xiyu Wang.
Fernandez: Canada's next great tennis hope
Fernandez is another great hope from Canada - where you can already look back on golden times with Bianca Andreescu (WTA No. 4), Denis Shapovalov (ATP No. 15) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (ATP No. 19).
17-year-old Fernandez won the French Open junior competition in 2019, and at the beginning of the year she also qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open - her first "real" major tournament, on the first try. She also surprised with a Fed Cup win over Belinda Bencic a few weeks ago.
In Acapulco Fernandez including qualification has now won six matches, three of them against top 100 opponents. In the current live ranking, it ranks 126th - higher than ever. She has already secured $ 21,400 through her final entry.