In a second meeting between two of last season’s major finalists, Leylah Fernandez was again victorious versus Anastasia Pavlychenkova, this time in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The two played last fall at the rescheduled BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where Fernandez came from a set down to beat Pavlyuchenkova in the first tournament she played after finishing runner-up at the US Open.
On Monday in Rome, Fernandez had to repeat the feat after losing seven consecutive games to fall behind, and completed a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback over the No.14 seed in 1 hour, 54 minutes.
“She’s an incredible player and she’s very comfortable on clay. I knew it was going to be tough. The first set, I made a few mistakes and she just took advantage of it. In the second set, I just wanted to play a little more freely, just letting go of my arms,” Fernandez said after the match.
“Even though I lost the first game, I think it helped me to get into the match. Afterwards, my balls were just going in. I’m just glad that I was able to keep attacking, keep being on the offensive, even though I was making mistakes, and I still kept trusting myself.”
The effort earned World No.18 Fernandez a victory in her tournament main-draw debut; in each of her last two appearances in Rome, the Canadian was bounced in the first round of qualifying.
Meanwhile, 2021 French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova was playing just her second game since the Australian Open. She lost her comeback effort versus Sara Sorribes Tormo in Madrid last week after 10 weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.
