Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec has advanced to the second round of women’s singles at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. In the process, she has become the only Canadian, who won her first round match.
Fernandez beat Dayana Yastremska of the Ukraine 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 on Saturday. This was their first meeting head-to-head. Yastremska was suspended for taking the banned substance mesterolone back in January, but was cleared of any negligence in June, and was allowed to return to competition. Stamina might have been an issue for Yastremska in this match, as it seemed like she lacked the energy to beat Fernandez in the third set.
Fernandez will now have a relatively tough opponent in the second round. That is because she is facing Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, the eighth seed. Krejcikova made tennis headlines earlier this year when she won the singles title and doubles title at the 2021 French Open. Krejcikova beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the French Open final, and then teamed up with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic to beat Iga Swiatek of Poland (the 2020 French Open women’s singles champion) and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-4, 6-2. Like Yastremska, Fernandez has never played Krejcikova in her career before.
