(Washington) Canada’s Leylah Fernandez continued to impress at the Washington tournament, beating American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Having had to go through qualifying to enter the main draw of the tournament, Fernandez eliminated his opponent in one hour 35 minutes of play.
The Laval native defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday before winning her first-round match 6-4, 6-1 over Katie Boulter on Sunday. Fernandez will have quite the challenge ahead of her on Thursday as she takes on world No. 9 Maria Sakkari in the next round.
Against Pera, Fernandez won seven games in return service. She won 49% of her points on serve and 56% on return. Fernandez took advantage of seven of his nine chances to break, while saving six of Pera’s 11 chances.
Fernandez hit an ace, but made nine double faults. On her first serve, she won 67% of the points.
On the men’s side, Kei Nishikori withdrew from the tournament earlier today due to a left knee injury.
The 33-year-old from Japan withdrew shortly before playing the opener of his second ATP Tour tournament since returning from hip surgery.
Nishikori, who was a 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, returned to action last week in Atlanta. He reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Taylor Fritz.
This was Nishikori’s first ATP tournament since October 2021. He underwent his hip surgery in January 2022.
Nishikori was replaced in the main draw in Washington by Sho Shimabukuro, who had lost in qualifying.
Emil Ruusuvuori defeated 10th seed Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2. Ruusuvuori scored nine aces in the game.
