{"id":890142,"date":"2026-10-22T00:26:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T00:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890142\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T00:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T00:26:20","slug":"fernandezs-marathon-win-kostyuks-retirement-headline-day-3-in-ningbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890142\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernandez’s marathon win, Kostyuk’s retirement headline Day 3 in Ningbo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leylah Fernandez came from 5-3 down in the opening set before surviving a 3-hour, 3-minute shot-making duel to defeat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in the BNB Ningbo Open second round Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Ningbo: Scores<\/a> | Order of play<\/a> | Draws<\/a><\/p>\n

The result sends the Canadian to her fifth WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz quarterfinal of 2026 and her first in Ningbo. She improved to 3-2 overall against Sasnovich, including 3-0 on hard courts. Despite the challenges Sasnovich presented, Fernandez said staying positive and composed was the key to advancing.<\/p>\n

“Just enjoying the battle,” Fernandez said in her on-court interview. “It was so tough, but it was also so much fun playing in front of a wonderful crowd in a great stadium. So I’m just happy I was able to stay positive and calm in those moments. But I just hope it doesn’t happen again and I get to keep my focus up for the whole match.”<\/p>\n

Kostyuk’s retirement sends Alexandrova to quarters, Muchova to WTA Finals<\/p>\n

Fernandez’s next opportunity to do that will come against Ekaterina Alexandrova, last year’s runner-up, who advanced to her second straight Ningbo quarterfinal when No. 3 seed Marta Kostyuk retired after dropping the first set 6-4 of their second-round match Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The ramifications extend beyond Ningbo. With Kostyuk no longer able to claim the title, Karolina Muchova has secured the final berth at the WTA Finals Indian Wells<\/a>. The 30-year-old will make her first appearance at the year-end championships.<\/p>\n

Locked in for FAGE WTA Finals Indian Wells \ud83d\udcaa Karolina Muchova confirms her place on #TheUltimateStage, completing the 2026 singles line-up! Get your tickets to see the season’s top 8 players take to the court! https:\/\/t.co\/da5lfZ1CWV @FAGEUSA | #WTAFinals https:\/\/t.co\/ENuqZHSDUo<\/p>\n

\u2014 wta (@WTA) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

For Alexandrova, the retirement creates opportunities on multiple fronts. She remains in contention for a title that slipped away last year after she won the opening set against Elena Rybakina in the final before capturing just two games across the final two sets.<\/p>\n

It also sets up a rematch with Fernandez, who defeated Alexandrova in three sets last week in Wuhan. Alexandrova enters the matchup having spent significantly less time on court in Ningbo, needing just 1 hour, 53 minutes to reach the quarterfinals compared with Fernandez’s 5 hours, 52 minutes.<\/p>\n

Another marathon would not be surprising, as their last three meetings have all gone the distance. Alexandrova owns a 3-2 edge in the head-to-head.<\/p>\n

Bucsa, Melichar-Martinez overcome difficult draw to advance<\/p>\n

One of the biggest perks of earning the No. 1 seed is a more favorable draw, particularly early in a tournament. That was not the case for Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, who opened their Ningbo campaign against doubles standouts Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.<\/p>\n

Bucsa and Melichar-Martinez embraced the challenge, defeating Errani and Paolini 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour, 32 minutes Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals and extend their strong season. The top seeds were clutch when it mattered most, breaking serve in the final game of both sets.<\/p>\n

\"WTA<\/p>\n

\n

WTA\n <\/p>\n

The Guadalajara champions and Rome runners-up have already sewn up a spot in the WTA Finals Indian Wells, while Errani and Paolini maintain a tentative hold on the eighth and final qualifying position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leylah Fernandez came from 5-3 down in the opening set before surviving a 3-hour, 3-minute shot-making duel to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428,1959],"class_list":["post-890142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890142","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=890142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}