The energy of the previous day was gone. The heart was there, but the legs didn’t follow. The spell didn’t work in Leylah Annie Fernandez’s third game at the National Bank Open.
The crowd, smaller than on Wednesday due to the rain that delayed the start of the game by about three hours, failed to inject enough vitality into their favourite.
Leylah fought to the end on Thursday night, losing 6-2, 6-3 to Danielle Collins, the same woman who knocked out Eugenie Bouchard in qualifying.
The 29-year-old American has had a turbulent week. After winning her two preliminary round matches, she sent Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and eighth seed in Montreal Greece Maria Sakkari into the shower.
Five games in six days. No rounds were lost in the peloton. There seemed to be nothing there. Collins was just dominant.
Every time Fernandez nudged them, the world 48th knew how to find the answer. Leylah expected it, she said on Wednesday after beating Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Quite the opposite of the 20-year-old Quebecer. After bouncing back against the No. 11 many times, she failed to solve all of the mysteries that Collins had thrown up.
have a high flight
While she’s hovering in the top 50, the Floridian is serious. In 2022 she was a finalist in Australia, after a semi-final in 2019 she also reached the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros in 2020.
And Collins hit hard, returning multiple serves from Leylah like she was in practice. Too often it seemed easy.
Tried everything in vain
But Fernandez didn’t give up, and neither did the crowd, who multiplied the support regardless of the score.
She saved three set points in the opening set, but had to admit defeat in the end. Then, in set number two, Leylah held out until game eight when she lost serve.
The 81st in the world thus failed to record a third straight win, which had not happened to her at a WTA tournament since Roland-Garros in 2022, when she reached the fourth round.
Nonetheless, Leylah can say that her mission is accomplished after claiming her first peloton wins at home.
However, Collins will have a busy quarter-final as she meets world no. 1 of Poland Iga Swiatek.