Canada’s Leylah Fernandez booked her spot in the women’s final of the Rothesay International, picking up an upset win over American Madison Keys on Friday in Eastbourne, England.
The Laval, Que., native scored a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Keys.
Fernandez, the world No. 30, will play for the title on Saturday against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who scored a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 semifinal victory over Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
The title match will be Fernandez’s sixth career final but first on grass and first at the WTA 500 level or above since the 2021 U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe will play for the women’s doubles title in Eastbourne on Saturday after outlasting Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya 6-7 (2), 6-4, 10-8 in Friday’s semifinal.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, a dual citizen who grew up in Caledon, Ont., meet Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the final.
WATCH | Fernandez defeats Keys in 3 sets in Eastbourne semifinals:
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., upset American Madison Keys 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach her first-ever grass court final at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, England.
Fernandez opens Wimbledon vs. Bronzetti
Also Friday, Fernandez and four of her teammates were part of the singles competition draw for Wimbledon.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the top Canadian seed in singles play at No. 17, opens the men’s draw against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., faces No. 19 Nicolas Jarry of Chile.
Fernandez, seeded 30th in the women’s draw, opens against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., will meet Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in her first match, while 19-year-old Marina Stakusic, also from Mississauga, makes her Grand Slam debut against No. 27 Katerina Siniakova of Czechia.
Singles play begins Monday at the All England Club.
In doubles, scheduled to begin Wednesday, the second-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe meet Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova in the first round, while Fernandez and partner Ena Shibahara of Japan play China’s Xinyu Jiang and Hanyu Guo.
In the men’s draw, Shapovalov teams up with Kokkinakis to take on Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Nicolas Mahut of France in Round 1.
