It was a week of great tennis in Paris for Leila Ani Fernandez and Felix Auger-Aliasim.
Taking another step forward will be a huge challenge.
Both Canadians are in the round of 16 of the French Open singles for the first time in their respective careers, adapting to the thick red soil of Roland Garros with equal nuances and ferocity.
On Sunday morning, both will play for a place in the quarterfinals.
Fernandez’s screening in the first week was characterized not only by her effective play at the top of the baseline, redirecting blows with a heavy left-handed turn, but also by her fighting spirit.
She overcame Kristina Mladenovic and the audience in a 6-0, 7-5 victory in the first round, responding with steely determination to the Parisian hostility that often congratulates her compatriot’s rival.
Fernandez survived a 5-3 deficit in the second and prevented a set of points before the affair ended.
After a comfortable victory in the second round over Katerina Sinyakova, she was tasked with the task against the experienced athlete and great talent Belinda Bencic in what will become one of the most exciting matches of the tournament.
In a clash of razor-thin margins, Fernandez overcame the sensible Swiss player 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 49 minutes, hitting 34 winners to just 22 errors in the match.
Fernandez also overcame an early deficit in the third set and despite Bencic’s late race, managed to end the service match in love.
“I think today I just trusted my game when it was most important,” Fernandez explained.
“I’m glad I was able to trust him enough to continue and carry out the game plan.”
Beyond her quality of punches, self-confidence and perseverance become the hallmarks of the young Canadian’s career.
In her final at the US Open last season, four of her six wins were from three sets.
At the Monterrey Open last March, the place of her second WTA career title, she saved five championship points before defeating Camilla Osorio in the final.
What awaits you now is an intriguing round of 16 between two of the top three players in the top 25.
American Amanda Anisimova, whose power and blows led her past Naomi Osaka and Karolina Muhova in the first week, is no stranger to playing her best tennis in Paris.
Three seasons ago, she made a series for the semifinals with remarkable upset victories over Arina Sabalenka and Simona Halep.
It is a battle of youth that Fernandez watches with pride.
“It’s great to see that we are all getting better every year and that we continue to play against the best players in the world here and we can hold on,” said the Canadian.
Anisimova and Fernandez also have a brief history after they just faced off in Indian Wells two months ago.
Fernandez came out on a hard court victory, 2-6, 7-6 ret. as the Canadian again found a way to come back by saving four match points to win the second set. Anisimova then announced that she was giving up before starting the third due to illness.
The pair will be first for the Phillippe-Chatrier day session.
His Quebec counterpart Felix Auger-Aliasime is enjoying a similar breakthrough in his first week at Roland Garros.
Although he was a finalist in the French Open for juniors in 2016, so far he has not achieved any results in his professional career, retiring in the first round in the last two seasons.
It looked like the same fate could befall him this time, as he was two sets behind in his first game last Sunday before hitting another gear and eventually beating Peruvian Juan Pablo Varilas 2-6, 2-6. 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
The end of this match was the beginning of a series of nine sets in Paris, as he dismantled Camilo Hugo Carabelli and Philippe Krainovic in the second and third rounds.
With the result, Auger-Aliasim has already reached the second week of the four specialties.
The great serving, the balance under pressure and the dictating basic game with his precise forehand are the main elements of his success. When he is pushed into a rally, his elite defense and athleticism come to the rescue.
He will need every gram of his talent and then a little to defeat his next enemy.
The 13-time French Open champion and the power of nature, Rafael Nadal, awaits in the round of 16 a sports legend whose name is recorded in record books as the greatest clay tennis player he has ever seen.
Only two men have beaten the Spaniard at the event, with two-time helmet champion Novak Djokovic doing it twice (2021, 2015) and former excellent Robin Soderling shocking the tennis world with his upset victory in 2009.
In the press, Auger-Aliassim may have tried to downplay the case.
“This is another game and another opportunity to try to play a good game and win, but of course it is very difficult,” Auger-Aliasim explained.
It is well documented how difficult it is to beat Rafa on clay in Paris.
One advantage the Canadian could have over his fellow athletes was the best game book available, courtesy of Rafa Tony’s uncle, a member of his coaching staff.
However, Tony will choose to stay this one.
Tony Nadal says he will not attend Rafa’s match against Auger-Aliasim: “I have already told Felix that I will not give him any suggestion on how to beat his nephew.” (via Clay Tennis)
– Luigi Gato (@ gigicat7_) May 27, 2022
Auger-Aliasime may lack Nadal’s tour experience and pedigree, but he has consistently won matches against the best over time.
Just two weeks ago, he made a brave effort against Novak Djokovic in Rome, losing 7-5, 7-6.
Earlier this season in Australia, he played a point match against the world number. 2 Daniil Medvedev loses lightly in the quarterfinals in five sets.
This training experience helped Auger-Aliassim win his first career title in Rotterdam last February and reach a new career high – № 9.
The odds will give him the slightest chance against Nadal, but Felix’s attitude and composure tell us that he will be present and ready to compete at his highest level at the time of the match.
“It’s up to me, when I go out on the court, to try to find solutions,” said the Canadian.
If Nadal manages to decide on a clay court, he will be just the third person in history to do so at Roland Garros.
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