Fernandez falls short vs Trevisan, misses French Open semis

MANILA, Philippines – Hobbled by foot injury, Leylah Fernandez saw her run of three-set escapes, including a stunning reversal over Tokyo Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, come to an abrupt end. The Filipino Canadian fell to Martina Trevisan, 2-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, in quarterfinals of the French Open at Roland Garros Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).

Fernandez, who received treatment for a right foot injury after trailing early in the opening set, fought back on sheer guts as she has done all her career, hitting a winner to save a match point in the second frame, eventually winning the tiebreak and forcing a decider at Court Philippe-Chatrier.

She gave everything she had in the next 50 minutes or so but Trevisan imposed her will and power in the third set, firing away forehand winners from which the world No. 17 Fernandez had no answer to, enabling the Italian to surge to a 4-0 lead.

The 2021 US Open finalist did break Trevisan back twice to threaten at 3-5 and appeared headed for another fightback when the latter opened with her sixth double fault while serving for the match.

But the World No. 59 kept on pressing and banked on her versatility and weight of shots to frustrate Fernandez, winning in two hour and 21 minutes and becoming the third Italian to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open era since 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone and 2012 finalist Sara Errani.

Trevisan, named after legend Martina Navratilova, posted 43 winners against Fernandez’s 29. She also had less unforced errors — 29 against her rival’s 44.

Trailing 2-3 in the first set, Fernandez took a medical timeout as a trainer added some bandaging to an area near her toes. From his courtside seat, father/coach Jorge must’ve felt stopping would be the next best thing to do, and even made a “slitting the throat” gesture.

But Fernandez simply brushed off her father’s motion and continued to compete, determined to overcome the odds the way she did in stringing a series of comeback wins that marked her incredible US Women’s Open run in New York.

But Trevisan, coming off a victory in Rabat last week where she upended Garbine Muguruza on her way to the championship, cashed in on whatever edge she had and did what she had to do after posting 30-15 lead in the ninth game of the third — a big forehand winner and a forehand cross-court hit to end the match.

“Today was definitely hard luck. I did feel it before the match but I didn’t think much of it. It just happened and we are just going to have to learn from this,” said Fernandez.

“It is a little hard at the moment to find some positives because, of course, I wanted to get to the semis,” she added. “But I think I will just have to take a few days and then look back and see what have done well. We are just going to go from there.”

Fernandez kicked off her drive in the season’s second Slam with a 6-0, 7-5 romp over Kristina Mladenovic of France. She then dispatched Czech Katerina Siniakova, 6-3, 6-2, upended World No. 14 Bencic, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, then repulsed American Amanda Anisimova, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the quarters against Trevisan.