(Eastbourne) Leylah Annie Fernandez continued her preparations for the Wimbledon tournament on Wednesday by crushing American Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 16 of the Eastbourne grass court tournament.
Fernandez, the 30th in the world, took only one hour and 16 minutes to dispose of Krueger, 79th in the world. It was the first duel between them in their careers on the WTA circuit.
In the quarter-finals, the 21-year-old from Laval will face the winner of the match between American Sofia Kenin, champion of the 2020 Australian Open, and British Harriet Dart.
In women’s doubles, Ontario’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her playing partner Erin Routliffe will meet in the quarterfinals with China’s Hanyu Guo and Xinyu Jiang.
On the other hand, the day was less successful for Canadian tennis players at Wimbledon.
Quebecers Alexis Galarneau and Gabriel Diallo fell in qualifying.
Galarneau was soundly beaten 6-1, 6-0 by Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 20th seed in the qualifying table, while Diallo lost 6-4, 7-6 (5) to Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, eighth seed.
Ontarian Marina Stakusic will try to advance to the third round of qualifying later on Wednesday, when she will face Frenchwoman Chloé Paquet, 116th player in the world.
