{"id":538563,"date":"2026-03-22T12:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538563\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T12:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:37:15","slug":"fernandez-off-to-winning-start-in-miami-open-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538563\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernandez Off to Winning Start in Miami Open Round\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria Mboko made it three wins in as many matches for Canadians in Miami on Saturday, following Leylah Annie Fernandez and F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime\u2019s<\/a> victories from earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

Fernandez kicked off the busy slate of Canucks in action at the Miami Open. The Canadian No. 2 was able to work her way past fellow lefty Oksana Selekhmeteva, winning 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-1 in the second round.<\/p>\n

The match was very similar to Fernandez\u2019s opening match against Katerina Siniakova in Indian Wells<\/a> a few weeks ago. Both players held a combined 23 break points in the match, but the Canuck was more efficient, converting on five of her ten. Fernandez only managed to win one second-serve point in the second set but turned things around in the decider, winning over half of those points while saving five break points en route to the win.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After losing the opening rally of the match, Fernandez didn\u2019t take long to quickly pull away in the set. The 23-year-old won 12 of the next 13 points, securing the early break and holding to love to take swift 3-0 advantage.<\/p>\n

At 3-1, 40-love, Fernandez looked to earn another comfortable hold but instead, the Canadian ran into some pressure. The world No. 25 committed two double faults in the game and was unable to deal with some strong returning from Selekhmeteva as the world No. 71 converted on her third break point. Selekhmeteva then held to love to complete the mini-comeback at 3-3.<\/p>\n

Read also: Mboko, Diallo Open with Straight-Set Wins in Miami<\/a><\/p>\n

Fernandez was broken again in the seventh game, but she soon regained her lead. The Lavalloise broke back from 40-love in the next game and even held set point on return at 4-5, 30-40. However, Selekhmeteva saved as both players strung together some holds on their way to the tiebreaker.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fernandez was covering all areas of the court to begin the tiebreak, mounting a commanding 6-1 lead. With her second set point, the Canuck converted to clinch the tight opener.<\/p>\n

The flurry of breaks returned to begin the second set. After Selekhmeteva saved two break opportunities in the opening game, there wasn\u2019t another service hold till the fifth when the world No. 71 increased her edge to 4-1.<\/p>\n

Read also: Dabrowski Reaches Indian Wells Mixed Doubles Final<\/a><\/p>\n

Selekhmeteva conceded just one point on her delivery the rest of the way, forcing a decisive set.<\/p>\n

Fernandez made the crucial first move in the decider, breaking in the second game, but had to hold her nerve on her delivery, fending off five break points over her next two service games to maintain a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Read also: Sinner, Sabalenka add to Trophy Cases in Indian Wells<\/a><\/p>\n

Another break in the sixth game set Fernandez up to serve for the match at 5-1. The Canadian quickly gained three chances to seal the contest at 40-love, soon booking her spot into the third round in Miami for the third-straight year.<\/p>\n

Fernandez sets up a clash against world No. 5 Jessica Pegula in the round of 32.<\/p>\n

Mboko Sets up Andreeva Trilogy in Round Four<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko needed half an hour more to earn another win at the Miami Open presented by Ita\u00fa, defeating Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5 in the third round on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It looked as if the Canadian No. 1 was going to repeat her dominant second-round performance<\/a> but, after sealing the opening set in 28 minutes, Mboko had to be patient in the second. The 19-year-old from Burlington couldn\u2019t convert on her first three break points of the set before she capitalized on her fourth, serving out the match in the 12th game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The opening game of the match was ultimately Mboko\u2019s trickiest as she cruised to the one-set lead. The Canadian had to save three break points, but the teen needed just two to secure back-to-back breaks and lead 4-0.<\/p>\n

Mboko then wrapped up the opener in under half an hour, not conceding a single point on serve the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Read also: Mboko, Andreescu, Dabrowski, Stakusic, and Cross to represent Canada at Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers<\/a><\/p>\n

The Burlingtonian had a tougher time trying to break ahead in the second set. Zakharova served well to dig herself out of a love-30 hole in the fifth game before the world No. 74 needed to save break point in her next service game, able to stay slightly in front at 4-3.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Zakharova did everything right to keep the set competitive, but a misplaced approach at 5-5 gave Mboko a vital break point which the Canuck converted. Three unreturned serves gave Mboko two match points at 6-5, 40-15, powering a forehand winner to finish off the round-three contest.<\/p>\n

Read also: Victoria Mboko\u2019s WTA Top 10 Surge by the Numbers<\/a><\/p>\n

The round of 16 will feature the trilogy of the WTA\u2019s teen titans<\/a> as Mboko will meet Mirra Andreeva again this year. The teenagers have split their previous two meetings with Andreeva winning their first in the Adelaide final<\/a>, then Mboko won in Doha<\/a> on her way to the title match<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Feature Photo: Sarah-Jade Champagne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria Mboko made it three wins in as many matches for Canadians in Miami on Saturday, following Leylah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-538563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}