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Fernandez Marches on, Andreescu and Shapovalov Eliminated at Indian Wells
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez continued her stunning form by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a marathon match in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, but there were defeats for Bianca Andreescu and Denis Shapovalov.
Fernandez rallied to defeat her Russian opponent 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory in a match that lasted two hours and 42 minutes at Indian Wells.
The 19-year-old showed the same battling qualities that saw her reach the US Open final last month before being defeated by Britain’s Emma Raducanu.
“Thank you so much for sticking around and watching me play,” she told the fans. “It definitely helped.
“What I’m most proud of is the way that I fought. I fought for every point.”
Defending champion Andreescu was toppled by Annet Kontaveit of Estonia who won the last five games of the match to triumph 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the round of 16.
“Today, she was the better player,” Andreescu said after the defeat. “We both, I think, didn’t play our best, but she was the better player. I did my best. That’s all I can ask for.”
In the men’s draw, ninth seed Shapovalov (No. 9) lost 7-5, 6-2 in the third round to Aslan Karatsev of Russia.
/Stewart Sports news editor
