Leylah Fernandez turns on the style with thrilling comeback win at Indian Wells

Kevin Palmer
Leylah Fernandez
Leylah Fernandez
Leylah Fernandez came from behind to beat ninth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
 
Fernandez, who lost to Britain’s Emma Raducanu in last month’s US Open final, fought off back from dropping the first set and sealed her win with an emphatic ace.

Meanwhile, Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus has continued her giant-killing run at the BNP Paribas Open, upsetting 11th seed Simona Halep in straight sets to reach the fourth round in Indian Wells.

Fresh from knocking off US Open champion Emma Raducanu, the world number 100 beat the two-time Grand Slam winner 7-5 6-4.

The victory sets up a battle with compatriot Victoria Azarenka for a place in the quarter-finals after Azarenka mirrored Sasnovich’s score in disposing of seventh seed Petra Kvitova.

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina outlasted Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in a marathon contest, coming back from a dropped first set to win 4-6 6-4 7-6 (3) in two-and-a-half hours.

Polish second seed Iga Swiatek needed less than half of that time to breeze past Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova 6-1 6-0.

Swiatek will face Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16 after the Latvian overcome Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-3 2-6 6-3.

Jessica Pegula, Shelby Rogers and Leylah Fernandez wrapped up Sunday’s third-round winners.

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