Leyla Fernandez Critiques the Draw at the Tournament in Montreal

• Fernandez progressed in the first round of the tournament in Montreal.
• She expressed her dissatisfaction with the draw of the matches.
• The tournament director stated that the WTA recognizes the draw.

Montreal — Leyla Fernandez expressed her dissatisfaction with the draw at the Open Championship of the National Bank after a defeat in the first round of her home tournament in Vancouver, just two days after returning from a tournament in Washington.

Fernandez played against Australian Maya Jones, winning 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour and 15 minutes. The player, who ranks 24th in the world ranking, hoped for additional time off before returning to the court in Montreal.

She noted that she received "a lot of promises" about playing in the night session in Vancouver, which would have allowed her to rest more between the two tournaments, but it turned out that she was scheduled to play during the day due to travel issues, which could not be changed.

"I did not receive this," she said. "It made me upset because I was really looking forward to playing in the evening, but, unfortunately, this is a political issue at this moment."

Instead, the first seed Coco Gauff played against American Danielle Collins, opening the night session.

Valerie Tetro, the tournament director of the National Bank in Montreal, reacted to Fernandez’s criticism, stating that a promise was made to ensure she had enough time for rest.

"But I did not win my battle," Tetro said, noting that the draw is determined by the WTA. "I received a request for her to play in the evening. My role is to negotiate with the WTA, so I tried to make it happen for her."

Tetro added that for Fernandez, exceptions had already been made. The 22-year-old athlete and Jones were among the three last matches of the first round that took place in the daytime, despite the fact that she was supposed to play in the evening.

"WTA protocols require that the first-round matches be completed before the second-round matches to ensure fairness for all players," Tennis Canada stated. "After Leyla won the title in Washington last week, she could not make it to Montreal in time for Monday's draw. As a result, the WTA made the decision to schedule her first match in the earliest possible slot of the first round."

Mirra Andreyeva, the 4th seed, advanced to the third round after defeating the 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu through a tiebreak in the first round. 7th seed Yasmine Paolini suffered a defeat from Japanese Aoi Ito in the third set tiebreak, while 8th seed Emma Navarro narrowly defeated Rebecca Marino, winning 6-1, 6-2.

Tags: Sport/Tennis