Team Canada got big wins from Leylah Fernandez and Rebecca Marino to put Canada on the brink of advancing.
It was the perfect start for Team Canada as on day on they took a commanding 2-0 lead over Serbia when Leylah Fernandez needed three sets to beat Olga Danilovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 while Rebecca Marino got the second win in another tight two set victory over Nina Stojanovic 6-4, 7-6.
Fernandez gives Canada the lead
The Montreal native got off to a great start holding her opening service game and earning two breakpoints the very next game and breaking to take an early 2-0 lead.
The Canadian wasn’t able to consolidate the break, getting broken the very next game and the next time she had a chance to break she took it to take a 5-3 lead and serve for the first set.
While serving the set once again she failed to convert and the Serb broke her at love and the set stayed on serve until 6-5 when Fernandez had two looks at a set point as she converted on the second opportunity to take a one set lead.
The Serb was looking to get back into the match and broke the Montreal native in the first game of the second set but again wouldn’t hold as the Canadian broke right back the following game.
At 3-3 the Serb earned two more breakpoints and broke and would serve out the second set to win it 6-4.
The third and final set was a back and forth affair but it was the Canadian who would earn the crucial break with a stunning forehand return winner down the line to take a 3-1 lead.
At 5-3 Fernandez served for the match but once again struggled to hold serve and the Serb would break to send the match back on serve. When serving to stay in the match the Canadian responded by setting up a match point and winning the match on her opponents serve.
After her match, Fernandez mentioned what she needs to work on for her next match tomorrow.
“I made one too many mistakes on the forehand, backhand, drop shots, volleys just like every match I got to improve but I’m happy I got the win”
Marino gives Canada a commanding lead
Next up was Rebecca Marino against Serbia number one Nina Stojanovic and it was the Vancouver native who got off to a great start playing some aggressive tennis.
She had a chance to break in the second game of the match but the Serb saved both and held serve. It was actually Stojanovic who would earn the first break of the match but she wasn’t able to consolidate as the Canadian would earn three breakpoints with a sensational forehand winner.
She would break back to go back on serve at 3-3 and at 5-4 the world number 230 had two set points and would convert on the second one to take the first set.
The second set was a crazy affair with the Serb earning two breakpoints in the first game but she would be denied by Marino big serve and then she would break to take 2-0 lead.
She wasn’t able once again to hold the break and was broken back the very next game and the next five games went with break of serve. At 6-5 Marino found herself at match point but couldn’t convert and the set would be decided by a tiebreaker.
The Vancouver native jumped out to a 3-1 lead but not before the Serb came back winning three points in a row and 6-4 Marino found herself once again with two match points but Stojanovic saved both.
At 7-6 the Canadian finally made the breakthrough winning the set and the match to put Canada in a great position to advance on Saturday.
After the match Marino spoke about how she was able to hang in and get the win for her country.
“It was frustrating and exciting at the same time to constantly break serve but constantly be broken, you have to hang in tough sets like that, she’s a great player, I knew if I kept trying and doing my best no matter what I might be able to squeak it through and that’s kinda what happened”
After all that we got hear from team captain Heidi El Tabakh and she was pleased with result.
“It wasn’t easy out there, I’m glad we were able to get the wins but it’s not over yet, I feel Leylah ( Fernandez) struggled with some nerves at the beginning and to be completely fair I think Olga ( Danilovic) played some of her best tennis, she came firing, she put the pressure on Leylah and served really well and Leylah did a good job of hanging in there and not letting it get to her, she fought her way out of it, it’s tough playing the first match as the number one nerves can get to you it’s completely normal, she’s tough and she was able to pull it off and I feel like Rebecca ( Marino) was inspired by that performance and came out playing really well, she played super-aggressive, served well and went for it from start to finish and that was her game plan so very happy with the way she played“.
She added how it felt to be playing in a stadium with no fans and how the energy was during the matches.
“Ya it was different playing without a crowd but we felt the support from our team and staff and we have had a ton of support from back home and we totally felt that today, we were very loud and I think that helped the girls today”.
Saturday is reverse singles with the action starting at 11:00 am local time with doubles after both singles matches and Canada only needs one more win to clinch a spot in the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers while Serbia would need to win all three matches tomorrow to put them through.
