'Tough day': Canada's Fernandez gets doubles win after singles loss at National Bank Open

TORONTO — Leylah Fernandez had just registered a win at her national open, but if you saw her on Thursday night, you never would have known it. As the National Bank Open’s 15^th seed put it: “I had a very tough day.” 

Late Thursday, Fernandez and her sister Bianca won their second-round doubles match, but earlier in the day, the 21-year-old Fernandez — the highest-seeded Canadian here — was upset in her second-round singles match, beaten in straight sets by American Ashlyn Kreuger, who’s ranked 82^nd in the world. 

“Well, you guys saw the match,” Fernandez said, more than five hours after it had ended, 6-4, 6-2, in Kreuger’s favour. “It wasn’t the prettiest match, it wasn’t the greatest match. I think from the start to finish I wasn’t able to take advantage of the points that were given to me. I had a couple break points early on and at the end of the sets, and I couldn’t convert any of them. I think I should have been more offensive, and I wasn’t. 

“I wasn’t there mentally, I wasn’t there physically.”

But Fernandez then had to pull herself together to face Kreuger again, just a few hours later, in doubles. She said she didn’t feel she was there mentally or physically either in the 6-3, 3-6 [11-9] win over Kreuger and fellow American Catherine Harrison. 

“I didn’t change anything,” said Fernandez, who’s from Montreal. “I was just like, ‘Okay, well whatever I did in the singles, for the doubles, do the opposite.”

She gives full credit to Bianca for helping her get back on the court Thursday. 

“The reality was that my sister was the boss on the court in doubles,” she said. “My dad gave her the green light to take over, and you know, credit to her, she did an amazing job in snapping me out of my little rut. I was very disappointed with my singles loss, and to get back on court it was extremely hard for me.

“She did some amazing points. She pumped us up,” Fernandez added. “On some important points she looked at me and she gave me full confidence that I was going to do my part of the job, [and] that helped me to kind of calm down those emotions.”

When Bianca was serving for the match, up a point in the tiebreak, she told Leylah “one more!” in fired up fashion, and then delivered. When it was over, the sisters ran towards each other for a hug. 

Earlier in the day, Fernandez was the final Canadian eliminated in singles play after Marina Stakusic lost earlier Thursday. 

In her loss to Kreuger, the World No. 25 was broken mid-way through the first set and had a chance to get back on serve to tie the match at five games apiece, but Fernandez couldn’t make good on three break point opportunities, and let Kreuger claw her way back in the game to take the opening set, 6-4. Fernandez was broken for the second time of the match in her first game of the second set, and Kreuger never looked back. 

The win in doubles certainly didn’t dull the pain of that loss, but the fact is, Fernandez is down, but she isn’t out. And she has Bianca to thank for that. 

“I think she was the one that was MVP of the match,” Fernandez said, after their victory Thursday. “She gave me strength and she won the match for us.”