Leylah Fernandez lines up a shot during her quarter-final loss to Mirra Andreeva at the Madrid Open on Tuesday.Isabel Infantes/Reuters
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez was eliminated from the Madrid Open clay-court tournament with a 7-6 (1), 6-3 loss to ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.
Andreeva saved three set points in the opening set before taking the tiebreak and seizing control of the match.
Fernandez, seeded 24th, was facing Andreeva for the third time, with the Russian improving to 2-1 in their head-to-head.
The Laval, Que., native had reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ann Li in the round of 16.
Fernandez was only the second Canadian to reach the Madrid quarter-finals and had matched her best WTA 1000 result.
Andreeva advanced to her first Madrid semi-final and will face either top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or Hailey Baptiste of the United States, who were scheduled to square off later Tuesday.