Leylah Fernandez starts her National Bank Open run in Toronto with the spotlight firmly on her. As Canada’s top-ranked woman in the field, she is expected to give the home crowd a strong performance and possibly a deep run.
What the Opening Match Looks Like
Fernandez meets Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa in the second round at Sobeys Stadium. The match is scheduled for no earlier than 7:00 p.m. ET, and Fernandez enters as the No. 30 seed after receiving a first-round bye.
- Fernandez is the higher seed and the hometown favorite.
- Zarazúa already has a match win in Toronto.
- The Canadian crowd will expect Fernandez to set the tone early.
That combination makes the matchup more demanding than the seedings suggest. Zarazúa arrives with momentum, while Fernandez must find her rhythm immediately.
Home Crowd, Real Expectations
Fernandez is well known to Canadian tennis fans after reaching the 2021 US Open final and building a reputation for fierce, energetic play. In Toronto, that popularity brings both support and pressure.
Her history at this event has not yet matched the attention around her. She is making her seventh National Bank Open appearance, but she has never advanced beyond the third round. Her best showing came in Montreal in 2023, when she beat then-No. 11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia before falling in the next round. She entered this year’s tournament with a 4-6 career record at the event.
Those results do not change the atmosphere, but they do explain it. Every game in front of a home crowd carries extra weight when the fans are waiting for a breakthrough.
Form, Matchup, and Possible Path
Fernandez has had an uneven North American hard-court stretch. At the Washington Open, she lost to Alexandra Eala in the second round after letting a 5-1 second-set lead slip away in a 6-2, 7-6 defeat.
Her season has been inconsistent overall, with 12 wins and 19 losses entering Toronto. Even so, she has shown a higher ceiling at times, including a quarterfinal run at the Madrid Open, which remains her best result of the year.
For Fernandez, the tactical formula is straightforward:
- Take the ball early.
- Use her left-handed angles to open the court.
- Protect serve and avoid cheap errors.
- Stay patient if Zarazúa extends rallies.
Zarazúa is ranked outside the top 70, but she is not a soft opening draw. She moves well, works points, and can turn the match into a long baseline battle. If Fernandez rushes, the door opens for an upset; if she settles in quickly, she has a clear edge.
A win would likely set up a third-round meeting with fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, which would raise the difficulty sharply. Further ahead, the same section could also include Elise Mertens and Naomi Osaka. That is why Fernandez cannot afford a slow start in Toronto.
For now, the task is simple: manage the pressure, play assertively, and turn home support into momentum. If she does that, the Toronto crowd may finally get the kind of run it has been waiting to see.