The young left-hander won the pick and shovel against Swiss Belinda Bencic in three sets of 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 4 minutes of play at Court Philippe Chatrier.
In a duel of speed players from the back of the field, Fernandes was able to speed up and show determination at the right times.
At the start of the third set, for example, Bencic, fired, appeared to sail toward a 2-0 win and a 40-0 lead. The 17th seed won the next five exchanges to smash her opponent and return at the height of the debate.
Then 14th-seeded Quebec broke again to lead 4-3. She was then in two small sets of victory, but Bencic in turn stole her serve.
However, from the next match, Fernandez again managed to take a break. Then, on her second attempt to close the game, she put all her first balls into play, with an ace in the way, and won the match by zero, an exclamation point for a determined performance.
Leila Annie Fernandez has already shown a character in the first group. After leading 3-0, she saw her come back and tied 3-3.
Bencic then managed to break through his 19-year-old opponent to lead 5-4. Switzerland even had two points set, with which Fernandez bravely defended, then snatched the standoff from its rival. Two games later, the Canadian took advantage of a blunder from Bencic to smash it and win the first set after 57 minutes of hard fighting.
In the meantime, the second round of the third part changed. Trailing 40-0, Bencic won five consecutive races to smash his opponent. Switzerland had the only other break from the set at 5-3, which is a stop to run.
It was a second duel between the players. Fernandez had also won his first Fed Cup, in Switzerland, in 2020.
In the next round, she will face American Amanda Anisimova, who benefited from the withdrawal of Karolina Moshova in the third set of the third-round duel due to injury.
