Leylah Fernandez hits a return during a Wuhan Open match against Zheng Qinwen, in Wuhan, China, on Oct. 10.Wang He/Getty Images
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez dropped a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 decision to Zheng Qinwen of China in third-round singles play Thursday at the Wuhan Open but won her doubles match in straight sets.
Fernandez, from Laval, Que., teamed with Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi for a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Shuai Zhang of China and Belgium’s Elise Mertens in second-round action.
Top-ranked Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe previously secured a spot in the quarter-finals.
Coco Gauff advanced to the singles quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of 17th-ranked Marta Kostyuk in just over an hour.
It was the fourth-ranked Gauff’s eighth consecutive win on the WTA Tour’s Asian swing after the American won the China Open last week which moved her back into the top five in the rankings.
Gauff fired two aces and broke the Ukrainian’s serve five times – for the loss of one of her own – as she clinched a one-sided match and extended her lead in their head-to-head series to 3-1.
Next for Gauff is No. 45-ranked Magda Linette, who continued her impressive form this week by beating eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3.
“Yeah, so she’s a tough opponent,” Gauff said of Linette. “We haven’t played since (the U.S. Open in 2021). I really don’t know what to expect. But just from watching her play, she’s been playing a great couple of matches here in Wuhan.
“I expect it to be a tough match. She’s not an easy opponent to play.”
Gauff will be the only American left in the draw after third-ranked Jessica Pegula and tour rookie Hailey Baptiste both lost.
Pegula, the U.S. Open finalist, had a tough afternoon against the 51st-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who was dominant on serve throughout and clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win to make her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.
Wang had won their only previous meeting in three sets in the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year and got off to a fast start here by breaking Pegula twice in the opening set to take the lead.
After her first win over a top 10 player in the previous round, Baptiste was routed 6-1, 6-1 by Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini defeated Erika Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.