Leylah Fernandez has got that New York feeling. The Canadian is once again ripping returns from inside the baseline. Exploring the angles. Tapping into the energy of a passionate crowd. Raining down whippy, powerful forehands with minimal backswing, and delivering serves of a potency that belie the slightness of her 5ft 6in frame. It is all very redolent of last September, when the 19-year-old’s bold, fearless ball-striking carried her to the US Open final.
Belinda Bencic, who was defeated 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 by Fernandez in the third round at Roland Garros, could be forgiven for feeling a little bit New York too. For the Swiss, however, memories of what happened at Flushing Meadows are of a rather different hue. Flying high after winning an Olympic gold medal, Bencic stood within a round of matching the best grand slam run of her career when she was undone in the quarter-finals by an unseeded British qualifier named Emma Raducanu. We all know how that one worked out.
This time, things were meant to be different for the Swiss. As the highest seed remaining in the lower half of a draw decimated by high-profile casualties, the nettle was hers to grasp. And when she stood within a point of moving 3-0 ahead in the decider, having bounced back superbly from the disappointment of failing to convert two set points in the opener, it seemed she had indeed, belatedly but decisively, taken control of a fluctuating, topsy-turvy contest.
Fernandez, though, is more than just a gifted shot-maker, and while she has struggled this year to reach the dazzling heights she touched in New York, the spirit and tenacity that served her so well eight months ago remain undiminished. The absurd crosscourt backhand that Bencic struck to lay the groundwork for an early break in the final set, an acutely angled winner delivered from so far off the court that she might as well have been sitting in the front row, would alone have broken the spirit of some players. But Fernandez continued to fight tooth and claw, never once considering that it might not be her day.
“It was an incredible fight,” said Fernandez of her two hour and 48 minute victory over the 14th seed. “I think today I was just trusting my game when it mattered the most, and I’m just glad that I was able to trust it enough for me to keep going and keep executing the game plan.”
Fernandez broke back immediately and survived a break point in each of her next two service games, weathering some brutal returning from Bencic, before claiming a break of her own. When she failing to serve out the match at 5-4, she simply redoubled her efforts, reclaiming the advantage with some wonderful returning before serving out to love. It was a victory born of pure grit.
“I think after the US Open I put a little bit more pressure on myself,” said Fernandez, the 17th seed. “That’s normal, because I want to reproduce what I did in the US Open over and over again. I think after the first few tournaments, I accepted that I will not be playing the same way every single time. I will just have to find solutions and keep working hard. Over the course of the year I have just been sticking to that, just putting my head down and just grinding it out every day.”
Through to the fourth of a slam for only the second time in her fledgling career, Fernandez will next face Amanda Anisimova, the American 27th seed. Anisimova, a semi-finalist in Paris three years ago, went through after Karolina Muchova, the gifted Czech who is returning from six months out with an abdominal injury, was forced to retire after falling heavily on her ankle early in the second set. Muchova continued with her ankle heavily strapped, but was finally forced to concede with Anisimova leading 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 3-0.
Also through is Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, who defeated 15th seed Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-5). Teichmann will face Sloane Stephens, a finalist in Paris four years ago, after the American saw off Diane Parry, the Frenchwoman who beat second seed Barbora Krejcikova in the opening round, 6-2, 6-3.