After downing Spain yesterday, Canada had another good day of tennis, advancing to the semi-finals of the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals after the wins of Leylah Fernandez and Marina Stakusic.
18-year-old Stakusic has been really impressive so far at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, winning both of her matches. For a young and up-and-coming player, that's quite impressive, as this is not a small event, and there is plenty of pressure involved.
After she downed Magdalena Frech in three sets today, Leylah Fernandez just had to win her singles against Magda Linette to send her country to the semi-finals.
She endured a tough match yesterday against Sara Sorribes Tormo, which was both long and grueling but still came out on fire today. She took the ball early in most rallies, overwhelming Linette pretty quickly.
The Polish player is a solid baseliner, but she had no chance against Fernandez, who looked very confident after the solid weeks in China.
The first set was pretty easy for Fernandez as she played really solid tennis, blasting 17 winners overall compared to just five by Linette. The Polish player had 14 unforced errors, which makes that line look even more ugly than it already is.
The second set wasn't much different either; it was the same story. Fernandez played aggressive tennis and found some early success. Linette controlled the ball a bit better, but overall still struggled with control.
Fernandez was about the same, with a few winners more than errors. The final score was ultimately 6-2 6-3 for Fernandez, who delivered two crucial wins for her country, and they'll need her to continue playing well as she did so far.
Fernandez finished with 28 winners, 25 unforced errors, and two aces. Linette was not good with only 10 winners and 29 unforced errors. That's simply too many.
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