Leylah Fernandez had this dream of playing, one day in her career, a match in front of a crowd hostile to her, in an atmosphere that would resemble that of “a football match”.
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A funny dream all the same, which perhaps comes from the fact that her father Jorge is a former soccer player and that she herself really likes the round ball.
The Quebecer can maintain that she did it on Sunday at Roland-Garros. Throughout this contested first round meeting on the Suzanne-Lenglen court, second in importance in Paris, the “go Kiki! » and the chants echoed in the stadium to encourage her opponent of the day, the Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic.
Unimpressed, the little left-hander, 17th favorite at Porte d’Auteuil, signed a 6-0 and 7-5 victory in 1 hour 24 minutes of play, to obtain her ticket for the second round.
“Very difficult”
She also thanked the crowd “for their support” in an interview on the court, even if these spectators had just booed her copiously after she had challenged a ball from Mladenovic called inside the lines.
A decision which was overturned by the referee and which gave match point to the 19-year-old player.
“Honestly, it was very difficult,” she said of the spectators. But I’m very happy to have been able to play against a crowd like that. I always had the dream of having a crowd against me, of having this experience, and you never know when it will happen again. »
In 29 minutes
Mladenovic’s game, which was briefly top 10 in 2017, is light years away from what the great Frenchwoman offered in her best years.
Now 29 and down to 107th in the world, “Kiki” has won just one match in the big draw at a WTA event since the start of the season.
Fernandez took full advantage of the unforced errors and largesse serving the Frenchwoman in the first set, leaving her no game and spinning with the set in just 29 minutes.
Another lift
But the second round was more addictive. By her own admission, the Lavalloise herself began to multiply unprovoked errors (she made 10 in this set) and she found herself up against the wall, down 5-3.
Mladenovic also had two chances to bring about a final round, but each time Leylah resisted. Then, she began another of these comebacks that make her successful and will face the Czech Katerina Siniakov, 56th in the world, on Wednesday.
“I started making more mistakes on my forehand, but she also raised her game. She put more balls in the field, she was more offensive,” analyzed the winner.
Rebecca Marino crashes in second set
After a tough battle with Cori Gauff in the first set, Canada’s Rebecca Marino collapsed in the second to suffer a 7-5, 6-0 first-round loss at the French Open on Sunday in Paris .
Marino, 116e WTA racket, suffered a break at 5-6, so all his efforts fell through. She had however obtained no less than eight break points in the fifth game of the match, but she was not able to put the finishing touches.
In the second set – which lasted 27 minutes – Marino offered practically no opposition.
Marino had to go through qualifying to get into the main draw. She came into it with confidence, dropping just 12 games in three games in wins over Paula Ormaechea, Katarina Zavatska and Seone Mendez.
Gauff, 18 and 18e player in the world, reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final in Paris last year, ending her clay-court season with a 16-4 record. The situation is a little more complicated this year. She was indeed eliminated in the third round in Madrid and Rome.
She will now face the Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck (61e) in the second round, with the firm intention of regaining his composure.
