By Canadian Press

Canada’s Leylah Annie Fernandez advances in Australian Open qualifiers

Jan 16, 2020 | 9:39 AM

MELBOURNE, Australia — Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard is one win away from getting back into the main draw at the Australian Open.

Bouchard, of Westmount, Que., downed Maddison Inglis of Australia in a second-round qualifying match on Thursday to advance.

Bouchard, ranked No. 211, beat her 130th-ranked opponent 6-3, 6-1 — needing only 62 minutes to take the match and put herself in the qualifier finals.

The 25-year-old made the Australian Open semifinals in 2014 at the peak of her career.

Earlier, Canada’s Leylah Annie Fernandez toppled Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig 6-2, 6-3 in a first-round qualifier that originally began a day earlier.

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Fernandez, from Laval, Que., was leading Tig 6-2, 4-1 when play was suspended on Wednesday because of rain.

The two returned to the court and Fernandez closed the win in one hour 24 minutes.

Meanwhile, Canadian Peter Polansky made a quick exit in qualifying.

Polansky, from Thornhill, Ont., was ousted by France’s Alexandre Muller in a first-round qualifier 6-1, 6-2.

Muller only needed 54 minutes to win the match that was also orginally scheduled for Wednesday but washed out.

Players need to win three qualifying matches to guarantee a spot in the main draw.

No Canadian women have spots in the main draw after reigning U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., dropped out because of a knee injury.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil have spots in the men’s main draw.

Canadians Steven Diez, from Toronto, and Brayden Schnur of Pickering, Ont., won their first-round qualifying matches on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2020.

The Canadian Press