Leylah Fernandez
celebrated her victory against
Magda Linette at the
French Open and highlighted
the way she fought for every point.
The former
US Open finalist faced a tough challenge in her
Roland Garros journey, going up
against the 21st seed, Magda Linette. In a hard-fought battle that went to
three sets, Leylah Fernandez secured a remarkable win on Court Simonne-Mathieu
to advance to the second round.
“It was a
very difficult match; I’ve known Magda for a very long time. We’ve always had
good training sessions and good matches. Always three sets – so I knew it was
going to be a tough match and I’m very happy with the way I fought, especially
in the third set, I didn’t give away many free points,” Leylah said after the
match.
The clay
season hasn't been particularly positive for Fernandez, as she was eliminated
in the second round of the Charleston Open and failed to go beyond the opening
rounds of the Madrid Open and Rome Open. Her last performance before traveling
to Paris was in Marrakech, where she won her first match against Spanish player
Fita Boluda but lost in three sets to Peyton Stearns.
As the
world No. 51, Fernandez needs a good result in Paris if she wants to avoid a
drop in the rankings. She will be defending the quarterfinals she reached last
year, where she suffered a loss to Italian player Martina Trevisan and ended
the match with an injury.
In the
second round, she will face Clara Tauson, who advanced through the qualifying
rounds and convincingly defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round.