Leylah Fernandez crashes out of Indian Wells

Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez ended her quarterfinal bid as Shelby Rogers rallied to claim a steely 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory on Tuesday, October 12 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Never before past the second round in five previous visits to Indian Wells, Rogers, who turns 29 on Wednesday, gave herself an early birthday present reaching the last eight where she will take on Latvian 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko. 

“That was an incredible match,” said Rogers. “She (Fernandez) has had such an incredible season and she’s such a sweet girl, I’ve gotten to know her a little bit.

“It was really about who was dictating the points today, who could get control of the points first.

“When she gets a good look at a ball it’s very tough, her forehand was incredible today.”

After falling to 18-year-old US Open winner Emma Raducanu in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows, Rogers was determined not to be shown the Indian Wells exit by another teenager Fernandez, who had her own magical run in New York getting to her first Grand Slam final.

Raducanu had also exited early at Indian Wells, losing her first match since winning the US Open last month.

After a win over ninth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round Fernandez hinted at another fairytale run in the Southern California desert but it proved a mirage.

The 19-year-old Canadian, who has Filipino roots, had been poised for a romp breaking Rogers to go up 4-1 and then again to close out the opening set.

But Fernandez was unable to carry that momentum into the second as Rogers took charge breaking the 23rd seed three-times on the way to a 5-0 lead and leveling the contest.

The third set began with the two players trading breaks but afterwards Fernandez and Rogers would not falter sending the contest to a tie-break won 7-4 by the American. – Rappler.com