Canada’s Fernandez loses challenging match to Tauson at French Open

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez is out of the second round at French Open after losing 3-6, 7-5, 4-6 to Denmark’s Clara Tauson.

The 2019 French Open Girls' Juniors champion from Laval, Que. crashed out after a hard-fought battle.

Fernandez had a wobbly start to the match. She got broken twice by Tauson in her first two service games.

Tauson held her serve and raced to a 4-0 lead in 16 minutes. She maintained a lead over Fernandez by overpowering her with strong serves and heavy groundstrokes.

But the 49th-ranked Canadian worked her way back into the set. Fernandez broke Tauson back in the fifth game to win her first game of the match. She then held her serve in the next game and carried her momentum to break Tauson again.

But her comeback wasn't enough as she got broken back to trail 3-5. Tauson then played a strong service game to win the set 6-3 on her first set point.

In the second set, Fernandez started strong by holding serve. Next, she broke Tauson in the next game to lead 2-0.

But Tauson caught up and broke Fernandez back. She then held serve in the next game to level the set at two games apiece.

Both players raised their level and played aggressively to hold serve. Tauson had a momentary lapse at 4-3 when she gave two breakpoint opportunities to Fernandez. But she upped the pressure and Fernandez missed some easy shots to lose the chance to serve for the set.

The two players continued to hold until Fernandez increased grabbed momentum. The Canadian played a solid service game to lead the set 6-5. Unforced errors then built up for Tauson and she lost her rhythm. Fernandez capitalized on the opportunity, broke her serve to love in the next game, and won the set 7-5.

Fernandez continued to raise her level and started the third set strong. She fended off Tauson’s challenge by saving a breakpoint in the first game.

Tauson held her serve in the next game. But Fernandez lost her flow and succumbed to the pressure. Tauson hit a clean backhand down the line and broke to lead 2-1.

Both players held their next service games. Tauson maintained her lead as Fernandez couldn’t break her back. She extended her lead to 4-2.

Fernandez showed sporadic resistance throughout the set, but it wasn’t enough to win. Tauson took control and served for the match. She set up three match points and won the deciding set 6-4. Tauson will now play the winner of Leolia Jeanjean versus Elina Avanesyan in the third round.

Fernandez will drop points as she made the quarterfinals at the French Open last year. After her loss, Bianca Andreescu is the only Canadian woman left in the draw. She staged a comeback victory against Victoria Azarenka in her opening match yesterday. On the men’s side, Denis Shapovalov overcame Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 earlier Wednesday. He will now face the number one seed Carlos Alcaraz for the first time.