Leylah Annie Fernandez


Leylah Annie Fernandez is a Canadian tennis player.
Fernandez has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 126 achieved on 2 March 2020. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of No. 284, achieved on 3 February 2020.

Junior Career

On 25 January 2019, Fernandez made it to the Australian Open Girls' Singles Final, where she lost to the top seeded Clara Tauson. On 8 June 2019, Fernandez defeated Emma Navarro in the French Open Girl's Singles Final to become the first Canadian female winner of a junior Grand Slam title since Eugenie Bouchard at 2012 Wimbledon.

Professional career

On 21 July 2019, Fernandez won her first professional singles tennis title when she rallied to beat fellow Canadian Carson Branstine in the final of the Gatineau National Bank ITF Challenger. Fernandez also won her first professional doubles title on the same date when she teamed with Rebecca Marino of Vancouver. The pair defeated the second-seeded team of Marcela Zacarías of Mexico and Hsu Chieh-yu of Taiwan. The following week, she made her second consecutive ITF final in Granby, losing to Lizette Cabrera of Australia.
Fernandez made her Grand Slam debut at the 2020 Australian Open. After making it through qualifying, she fell in the first round to Lauren Davis. She picked up the biggest win of her career to date the following week in the Fed Cup qualifying round against No. 5 in the world Belinda Bencic. In late February at the Mexican Open, she made it through qualifying and into her first WTA final, where, after winning twelve sets in a row, she was defeated by world No. 69 Heather Watson. A week later, she upset Grand Slam champion Sloane Stephens to reach the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open, falling to eventual champion Elina Svitolina.

Personal life

Her father Jorge is a former soccer player, and her younger sister Bianca Jolie is also a tennis player. She is of Ecuadorean and Filipino descent, and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Performance timelines

Singles

This table is current through 2020 Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12020 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Women's Singles|Mexico Open Acapulco, MexicoInternationalHard Heather Watson4–6, 7–6, 1–6

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Jul 2019ITF Gatineau, Canada25,000Hard Carson Branstine3–6, 6–1, 6–2
Loss1–1Jul 2019ITF Granby, Canada80,000Hard Lizette Cabrera1–6, 4–6
Loss1–2Oct 2019ITF Waco, United States25,000Hard Fernanda Contreras3–6, 6–2, 1–6

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Top 10 wins