Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec upset Elise Mertens of Belgium at the 2026 Ningbo Open 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Monday. Mertens was the seventh seed in Ningbo and currently ranked 15th in the world. Fernandez was unseeded and ranked 30th in the world.
Despite not being ranked in China this week, Fernandez is a grand slam finalist from the past as she made the final two of the 2021 United States Open. Mertens made the semifinals of the 2018 Australian Open.
This was a very even match statistically. However, Fernandez won the points at the right time and was able to break Mertens late in the third set.
Fernandez has had great success in Asia in the past. Three of her six WTA titles have come on the Asian continent. Fernandez defeated Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the 2023 Hong Kong Open final, Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 in the 2025 Japan Women’s Open final, and Talia Gibson of Australia 7-5, 6-0 in the 2026 Singapore Open final.
Next up for Fernandez in the second round on Wednesday is Aliaksandra Sasnovich 0f Belarus, who is ranked 122nd. Sasnovich upset the 74th ranked player in the world and 2022 French Open semifinalist Daria Kasatkina of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of Ningbo. Fernandez and Sasnovich have beaten each other twice in the past. Fernandez won 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Jiangxi Open, and in the first round of the 2024 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
