Fernandez fires Canada into Finals with victory over Vismane

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez scored a second win in two days to clinch victory over Latvia and book her team’s place in the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas Finals.

The 20-year-old was in sparkling form once again as she raced to a 5-1 lead in the opening set against Daniela Vismane.

With Canada sitting on a 2-0 lead after the opening day’s play in Vancouver, Heidi El Tabakh’s team needed just one win on Saturday to secure their place in the year-end finals for a second straight year.

And Fernandez, who spent 64 minutes less time on court than her opposite number in yesterday’s singles matches, wasted little time in getting the job done.

With only two games going to deuce the entire match, Fernandez never gave her opponent the opportunity to get settled and the dominant display was sealed on the hour when Vismane pushed a forehand wide in an attempt to save a third match point.

“I think my favourite moment of today was hearing everybody,” Fernandez said after the match. Hearing the ‘Go, Canada, Go!’ and ‘Go Leylah!’. That’s my favourite part. The atmosphere and the energy that you guys gave me.”

With Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, ready to make her comeback in Stuttgart next week after multiple injury lay-offs, Canada could be a real contender for the Billie Jean King Cup title later this year.

When asked how far her team could go, Fernandez gave a simple answer. “We can win it,” she said.

If this weekend’s performance is anything to go by, indeed they can.