Leylah Annie Fernandez booked her spot in the 2020 Australian Open main draw after she defeated American Danielle Lao, 7-5, 7-5 on Friday.
Since countrymate Bianca Andreescu was forced to pull out of the tournament to continue rehabbing a knee injury, fellow Canadian teenager Fernandez will compete as the country's only woman in the Australian Open main draw. The 17-year-old was forced to battle through qualifiers, collecting wins over Romania's Patricia Tig (6-2, 6-3), Japan's Mayo Hibi (6-4, 6-4) and capped off her entry with a win against Lao.
QUALIFIED. ✅
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 18, 2020
17-year-old Leylah Annie Fernandez makes her first Grand Slam main draw with an excellent 7-5, 7-5 win over Danielle Lao.
Welcome to the big leagues, @leylahfernandez! pic.twitter.com/ipvx3yh2C5
As expected, the matches got tighter the further into the qualifying bracket Fernandez went, but the Montreal native still managed to take down all three opponents in straight sets. Midway through the second set against Leo, down 5-3, Fernandez risked a deciding third set, but after she battled back from down 40-15 in the ninth game Fernandez won four straight games, avoided a tiebreak and advanced to the main draw.
Fernandez is currently No. 206 in WTA's Jan. 13 rankings — the highest positioning of her career so far.
Eugenie Bouchard was the only other Canadian woman in the qualifying bracket; she fell to Italian Martina Trevisan in the final round, 6-4, 6-3. Steven Diez (second round), Brayden Schnur (second round) and Peter Polansky (first round) all failed to make it out of qualifiers in the men's bracket.
MORE: Bianca Andreescu Injury timeline, return date, latest updates
Time will tell how Fernandez will fare against the competition in her first career Grand Slam, but Canadian tennis fans — and tennis fans in general — don't have to look back too far to find another inspiring story of a young player quickly rising through the rankings. Reigning U.S. Open champion Andreescu ended 2018 ranked No. 178 in the world and reached No. 4 in 2019.
Qualifiers have not yet been slotted into the main draw bracket as there are still competitions to be completed.
The first round begins on Sunday, Jan. 19. Fernandez is the only Canadian competing in the women's bracket while No. 13 Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, Ont.), No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime (Montreal), No. 32 Milos Raonic (Thornhill, Ont.), and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) will compete on the men's side.