Leylah Fernandez has concluded her singles journey at the HSBC Championships on the grass courts, falling to Britain’s Katie Boulter with a scoreline of 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 on Tuesday.
As the eighth seed at The Queen’s Club in West London, Fernandez was holding a set advantage and was locked at 3-3 in the second set when play was halted Monday night due to fading light.
When the match picked up again, Boulter quickly dismantled the disruption to clinch the tightly contested second set.
In a thrilling third set, Fernandez recovered from a break deficit, yet faltered in her service game when the score reached 5-5, allowing Boulter to reclaim control and serve out for victory.
Boulter is set to square off against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in her next match at the WTA 500 event.
This encounter marked the first official meeting between the two competitors in a WTA Tour main draw. Boulter had previously defeated Fernandez during the qualifying rounds of the 2018 Canadian Open, while Fernandez avenged that loss at the qualifying stage of the 2023 Citi Open.
Later on Tuesday, Fernandez was scheduled to partner with Germany’s Laura Siegemund to take on Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Demi Schuurs from the Netherlands in a first-round doubles match.
In another exciting first-round doubles match, tennis icon Serena Williams was set to make her highly-anticipated return to the court alongside Canadian talent Victoria Mboko, facing off against New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez.
