As day one of Fed Cup 2020 qualifiers drew to a close, Canada trailed host country Switzerland 2-0 after losses on Friday from Leylah Annie Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski. Now, the team must win its opening two matches on Saturday to keep hopes of making the Fed Cup Finals in April alive.
Fernandez lost the first 10 points in her match against world No. 68 Jil Teichmann. While she did eventually force a tiebreak in that first set, Teichmann took the match 7-6(4), 6-4 — a tough loss for the Laval, Que., native after she made the main draw in last month's Australian Open for the first time in her career.
"It's never easy to lose," Fernandez said. "Everybody wants to win, I wanted to win but it's a learning experience for me, too, to see how my game is against a top 100. It's getting better and better and now I just need to fix those little mistakes."
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Dabrowski drew into a difficult singles match against world No. 5 Belinda Bencic when Eugenie Bouchard was forced to pull out of the match with a wrist injury. Dabrowski, who has only played two singles matches so far this season, struggled against Bencic — the Swiss star won in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
"I was excited to play," Dabrowski said. "But I've played two singles matches this year and, in my preseason, I played one baseline game and that was my singles prep for today. So, unfortunately I couldn't give more."
Bencic brilliance in Biel 🇨🇭
— Fed Cup (@FedCup) February 7, 2020
The Swiss star beats Dabrowski 6-1 6-2 to give the hosts a 2-0 lead#FedCup @BelindaBencic @swiss_tennis pic.twitter.com/KkfKNgYHP7
"It was a tough day for us," team captain Heidi El Tabakh said. “Unfortunately, Genie couldn't play. She had a bad wrist injury, and we had to make a last-minute decision, and Gaby played for her. I thought Leylah played really well. She fought really hard. She still lacks experience against top-100 players, but she gave it her all out there and I'm very proud of her. Gaby played against a top-five player who was on fire today ...
"But we have tomorrow. I'm excited to see Leylah play against Belinda. It'll be a great experience for her."
Bouchard said she suffered the wrist injury during practice on Thursday and that her status will be re-evaluated for Saturday's matches. Bouchard is scheduled to play Teichmann on Saturday, and Fernandez will play Bencic. Dabrowski will team up with Bianca Andreescu in her return to action for the doubles match against Viktorija Golubic and Stefanie Voegele.