Quebecer Leylah Fernandez worked hard and overthrew Swiss Viktorija Golubic in the second round of the grass court tournament in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Sixth seed and 33rd in the world rankings, Fernandez won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours 21 minutes.
She lost the first game of the match while serving. Golubic, 78th in the world, took advantage of this advantage until the end of the first set.
Both players experienced more service problems in the second set, when there were a total of seven service breaks.
Serving for the match at 5-4, Golubic suffered a break of service at zero. Two games later, Fernandez broke her rival’s serve again to win the second set.
In the final set, Fernandez broke Golubic’s serve at zero in the sixth game. She then closed the books on her third opportunity.
In the next round, Fernandez will face Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
In doubles, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her New Zealand playing partner Erin Routliffe lost 6-3, 6-2 to Belgium’s Greet Minnen and Britain’s Heather Watson.
Dabrowksi and Routliffe were the second seeds in the women’s doubles draw in Birmingham. They won the Nottingham tournament last week.
