Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez reached the round of 16 of the tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The 74th player in the world defeated the Belgian Elise Mertens in two sets 6:3 and 6:4. The latter is ranked 29th in the world and was seeded 13th at the Mexican event.
Fernandez received her rival’s serve four times and also saved four of the six break points offered by Mertens.
The Montreal native also won 78% of rallies when putting her first serve attempts on the line, but maintained a 48% success rate in that regard.
The 21-year-old was particularly aggressive on Mertens’ second balls and won 20 of the 27 rallies in this situation.
She now has a date with the winner of the second round duel between the Americans Madison Keys and Emma Navarro. The two compatriots will cross swords later on Tuesday evening.
Fernandez is the last Canadian in the singles main draw as Eugenie Bouchard, Stacey Fung and Carol Zhao all suffered defeats.
Fernandez also plays doubles with her regular partner Taylor Townsend. Bouchard (with Mexico’s Maria Fernanda Navarro Oliva) and Gabriela Dabrowski (with New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe) are the other Canadians still competing in the doubles event.