Fernandez avenges Roland-Garros loss to Parks to reach Singapore quarterfinals

Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the No. 6 seed, beat American Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon to move into the quarterfinals of the Singapore Tennis Open presented by BNP Paribas. She held off a comeback in the first set and recovered from an early break in the second, reversing the result of their last meeting.

Their head-to-head now stands at 2-2. Parks had beaten Fernandez in the first round of Roland-Garros this year, and the Canadian left the court in tears.

Fernandez will next play Russian Mirra Andreeva, the top seed, whom she beat 6-1, 6-4 in Toronto a few weeks ago. She played down that result.

Parks, ranked No. 70, again played with heavy strapping on her right shoulder, and her serve never settled. She landed 45 percent of her first serves over the match, 36 percent in the first set and 50 percent in the second, and hit nine double faults.

Fernandez, ranked No. 31, led 5-1 in the opening set before Parks fought back to 5-4. The Canadian then took the set on her first set point. In the second set she was broken early to trail 1-2, broke straight back, moved ahead 4-2 and closed it out 6-3.

“I would say overall my game was pretty solid,” Fernandez said. “The most important thing was my mental strength. That was definitely more solid today than the other day. Alycia is a tough opponent and didn’t give me much rhythm. So for me, just staying in my own bubble, executing my game plan, my game, was super important. I’m glad that I was able to do that.”

She credited the crowd for helping her through the late stages.

“It definitely helped me a lot. They gave me energy and motivation in these late and tough matches,” she said. “It has just given me that sense of calm and also strength in certain moments.”

In the previous round, Fernandez defeated Japanese qualifier Kyoka Okamura 6-2, 6-3. Parks had beaten Japanese lucky loser Mei Yamaguchi 6-4, 6-3.

“I mean, of course I want to say that I’m going to use our match in Toronto for the confidence, but, you know, it’s another match, another day, another tournament…” she said about Andreeva. “It’s gonna be tough. She’s not gonna give it to me easily, so I’m just gonna try to focus on one point at a time, one ball at a time and execute the game plan.”

Singapore 2026, Round of 16 results and schedule

M. Andreeva [1] d. A. Sasnovich: 6-2, 6-2
L. Fernandez [6] d. A. Parks: 6-4, 6-3
E. Mertens [4] d. B. Krejcikova: WO
M. Chwalinska [5] d. O. Oliynykova: 6-0, 6-1
Xin. Wang vs J. Garland – Thursday
T. Prozorova vs A. Eala [3] – Thursday
M. Sakkari [7] vs N. Hibino – Thursday
T. Gibson vs V. Morvayova (LL) – Thursday