Canada’s Fernandez, Andreescu win, Mboko and Shapovalov lose at Italian Open
Leylah Fernandez has her second clay-court win of the season.
Canada’s top two women’s tennis players are heading to the third round at the Italian Open.
Bianca Andreescu recorded a nice upset, downing No. 20 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 at the clay-court event on Friday.
Andreescu lost in straight sets to Vekic in the second round of the Paris Olympics, with the Croatian going on to win a silver medal.
Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., will next face No. 11 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, No. 25 seed Leylah Ferndandez of Laval, Que., beat Crotian qualifier Antonia Ružić 6-4, 6-0.
Like all seeded players, Fernandez got a bye in the first round.
Fernandez, 2-2 on clay this season, will next face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., lost his first match in Rome.
The No. 27 seed dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Vilius Gaubas of Lithuania in the second round of men’s singles.
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko, 18, lost her second-round match against No. 4 seed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Mboko, from Toronto, advanced to face Gauff after dismissing Italy’s Ariana Zucchini in straight sets in the first round.
Ranked 158th in the world, the Canadian has compiled a 33-4 record this season while racking up five titles on the lower-tier ITF circuit.
No. 26 men’s seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal begins his run in Italy on Saturday with a second-round match against Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild.
