Leylah Fernandez, hailing from Laval, Quebec, faced a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) defeat against top-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany on Friday. Rybakina extended her winning record against the Canadian to 3-2 after a three-hour match. The final set’s tiebreak was evenly contested, with Rybakina clinching victory by securing the last two crucial points. Fernandez capitalized on 4 out of 8 break points, while Rybakina managed to convert 3 out of 14. Rybakina also outperformed Fernandez with a 7-6 lead in aces. In the upcoming semifinals on Saturday, Rybakina will go head-to-head with sixth seed Mirra Andreeva from Russia.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov suffered a defeat in the quarterfinals of the BMW Open tennis tournament in Munich, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Slovak qualifier Alex Molcan. Molcan took a significant lead by breaking Shapovalov’s serve to go up 4-3 in the second set, maintaining his advantage till the end without dropping a single point on his serve. Shapovalov, who had leveled the set at 3-3 with a break, faltered due to his weak service game, resulting in his loss. This was only the second encounter between the two players, with Shapovalov emerging victorious in their previous clash in 2022 at the Qatar Open. Molcan, boasting an 11-2 clay court record this season, is set to face the second seed, Ben Shelton from the United States next. Shapovalov, representing Richmond Hill, Ontario, entered the ATP 500 tournament ranked 39th globally, holding an 8-8 season record.