Canadian tennis star Leylah Fernandez faced off against 20th-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday.
And after more than three hours of hard-fought tennis, it turned out to be quite a match.
Losing the first set to Alexandrova by a 7-6 score, the Montreal native, who sits in 67th on the WTA rankings, fought her way back in the second, ultimately tying up the match and forcing a third set.
šØš¦ Leylah Fernandez saves the break point!
She's rallying to stay in this match. pic.twitter.com/3XnxYliMmJ
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2023
The third and final set was a hard-fought one as the Russian and Canadian went back and forth in games and rallies.
Down three games to none to start the set, Fernandez was the underdog once again. But despite her best efforts, the 20-year-old could not complete the comeback, with her opponent taking the set by a 6-4 score.
Similar to the match, the two players had played one another twice before, winning one match each. As of now, though, the Russian has the edge.
Fernandez, who made the US Open final back in 2021 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 last year, is now 107-62 in her career and 19-12 this season on hard court.
As for Alexandrova, she will advance to Round 2 of the New York tournament and play the winner of this afternoon’s match between Ukrainian player Lesya Tsurenko and Elsa Jacquemot of France.
The US Open kicked off on August 28 and will conclude on September 10.
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