She sold her skin dearly, Leylah Fernandez. And until the very end, the Quebecer probably believed that she would manage to qualify for the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career, Thursday. But giving five chances to break a former world number 1 late in a match is never a good idea, and in the end, it will have sunk the young player.
Leylah therefore lost 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5 to Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in a strange encounter, the final set of which was marked by a very long break. While the score was 3-3, play was suspended due to the diminishing light on court number 12. It was then 9:50 p.m. London time.
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As the organisers have already had to postpone matches to the following day several times since the start of the fortnight, one can imagine that they did not want to repeat the headache this time.
But while Fernandez seemed ready to continue her momentum (after all, she had just won the second set and erased a break early in the third), Wozniacki seemed desperate to see it completed on Friday.
Photo AFP
The Danish woman insisted to the supervisor, smiling, that it was getting dark and that they could not continue playing.
One hour later…
The pear was eventually split in two and the match was moved to Court 1, which has a roof and lights, causing a delay of nearly an hour. And it was Wozniacki who ultimately enjoyed it.
The 21-year-old from Laval had nevertheless come back in force on this large court. Offensive as she had been in the second round against the current 91st in the world, back in the game since last year after giving birth to two children, she seemed in control of the match.
But in front of these great champions, it is better not to give anything. And more shaky at 5-5, on her serve, the 30th seed first saved four break points, which at this stage of the confrontation are almost equivalent to four match points.
Visible disappointment
The fifth was one too many. Wozniacki, 33 – she won Wimbledon in the juniors when Leylah was… three years old – then closed the door in turn on serve, giving herself the opportunity to face the champion of the 2022 edition, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, on Saturday.
Less than a week after reaching her first final on grass, in Eastbourne, Fernandez picked up her racket, disappointment evident on her face. After all, how can you not be disappointed after coming so close?
But playing on grass remains a learning process for many players, and Leylah can say that she has learned a lot over the past two weeks.
▶ Canadian Bianca Andreescu will play her third round match on Friday, around 8 a.m., Quebec time, against Italian Jasmine Paolini, seventh seed and recent finalist on the ochre court at Roland-Garros.
2024-07-04 21:27:12
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