Leylah Fernandez holds off Amanda Anisimova fightback to progress to quarter-final at French Open

Leylah Fernandez beat Amanda Anisimova 6-3 4-6 6-3 to progress through to the quarter-finals of the French Open. The 17th seed Fernandez set the tempo immediately with an excellent opening service game, and followed it up with two early breaks as she built up a rapid 4-0 lead. Ad/> Anisimova, who had made a number of unforced errors, did well to find her composure, grabbing two breaks back and won her first service game of the afternoon to reduce the deficit to 5-3.

Roland-GarrosFernandez downs Bencic in fiery third-round epic after umpire rowYESTERDAY AT 13:08 The momentum shift didn’t last long, however, as Fernandez saw out the opening set in 32 minutes courtesy of a nervy hold. The final few games of the first set gave Anisimova hope for the second and she comfortably held in the opener to raise her confidence further. Anisimova saved a couple of break points in the third game to crucially hold service.

She was beginning to shine and took authority of the set, pulling her North American rival around the court to back up a break with a rampant love hold and bring up 4-1 as Fernandez’s errors mounted up. Fernandez fended off another potential break with a spectacular drop shot and found her rhythm again to break back to love and move to within a game of her opponent. But a topsy-turvy set was claimed by Anisimova 6-4 as the American delivered a crucial blow on her second set point to break and force the decider.