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FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – It has happened fairly often – far too often, really – on the men’s side.
But on Sunday, for only the second time in recent memory, two Canadian women will meet in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament as Leylah Fernandez and Rebecca Marino square off on Court 17.
“She’s an amazing player and an even better person, so it’s going to be tough playing against her. I know she’s been playing really well the past couple of weeks and to qualify here in New York gives you a confidence boost. I know my match is going to be extremely tough,” Fernandez said on Saturday.
“I’m out there enjoy my time and try to forget that I’m playing against not only a friend, but a fellow Canadian, and just do my job.”
The two did run into each other on site after the qualifiers were placed. And Fernandez said that they were able to laugh about it.
“We were kind of joking around, like, “Hey, see you tomorrow!” So it is a little funny. We’re just kind of laughing it off and we both know that once we step on court it’s all business.”
Canadian vs Canadian in the majors
If you think back a bit, New York was a place where a lot of internal Canadian drama occurred.
Two years in a row, Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime met in the first round, just a couple of years removed from their junior doubles title together here.
Here are all of the Canuck v Canuck meetings in majors. For the women, it’s the second time in the main draw. The only other time was when Aleksandra Wozniak beat Heidi el Tabakh (who was on hand today to watch this one) at Roland Garros in 2012.
(For those deep-divers, Helen Kelesi and Carling Bassett only met once; it was at Hilton Head in 1986, won by Kelesi).
Marino match tough
Marino is pretty match tough, having played and won a trio of three setters this week, en route to her sixth US Open main draw.
Fernandez has had a little more struggle since her impressive – and unexpected – title at the WTA 500 in Washington, D.C. a month ago.
She had basically no turnaround time before arriving at her hometown tournament in Montreal and lost her opener to Maya Joint, a young Aussie she had beaten 6-3, 6-3 in the first round in D.C.
Then she lost her opener to the in-form Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in Cincinnati. And after flying all the way down to Monterrey – a city that had been great to her in the past when it was a WTA 250 that took place before Indian Wells, she won her first round but losst to Rebecca Sramkova in the second round.
Fernandez also hasn’t had much draw luck in New York since that crazy run to the final in 2021.
She was beaten in the second round in 2022 (Samsonova), and lost in the first round in 2023 (Alexandrova) and 2024 (Potapova).
To be fair, those are pretty rough first rounds. Fernandez was seeded in 2022 and 2024 but Samsonova and Potapova, who have been seeded more often than not at majors, were not in those y ears but just a couple of spots out. So they were close to being worst-outcome draws for her.
Fernandez said it waas hard to believe that big 2021 run was four years ago.
“It was an incredible year and an incredible tournament. I hope I can repeat that, but we’re going to take it one match at a time,” she said.
The two were assigned Stadium 17, which is a great court.
Head-to-head: 1-0, Marino
The two met once before, back in 2022.
It was at a WTA 125-level tournament in Tampico, Mexico. And Marino won it, 6-3, 6-3.
The two do have some history together. Back when Fernandez was just starting out, Marino was just starting again, after a five-year break. She was – if not quite a mentor – sort of a tennis big sister.
The two even teamed up a few times in doubles. The first time, they combined to win a $25,000 ITF in Gatineau, Quebec in 2019. Where Fernandez also won her first professional singles title.
And they have been Billie Jean King Cup teammates on a number of occasions.
