Leylah Fernandez overcame Maria Sakkari 7-6 (5) 6-4 and now everything is ready for a Tokyo round-of-16 showdown between the Canadian tennis star and Elena Rybakina.
Sakkari, a former world No. 3, didn't make the main draw of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo directly and she had to play qualifying. After winning two qualifying matches, the 2021 French Open semifinalist also opened a 5-2 lead against Fernandez in their first-round match. However, the Canadian refused to quit and stole the first set from the Greek after saving three set points.
Sakkari was also up in the second set since she held a 4-2 lead at one point. But, once again, Fernandez mounted a comeback as she took the next four games to overturn the deficit and complete a two-set win.
Fernandez set to meet Rybakina in an extremely important match for the Kazakh
Rybakina, who is the No. 2 seed in Tokyo and had a first-round bye, needs to reach the semifinal at the tournament to book the final WTA Finals spot. If she fails to do so, Mirra Andreeva will clinch the final ticket for Riyadh.
Fernandez and Rybakina are set to clash against each other for the fourth time. In late July, the Canadian pulled off one of the most epic comebacks of her career in the Washington semifinal as the Kazakh led 7-6 (2) 5-3 in their match before she stormed back to win 6-7 (2) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (3).
Going into the match, both Fernandez and Rybakina are in great form as the Canadian won Osaka last week while Rybakina made it all the way in Ningbo.
