Fernandez Rallies Past Alexandrova Into Ningbo Semifinals

Leylah Fernandez lost the first set to Ekaterina Alexandrova and then won 12 of the last 15 games, beating her 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Ningbo Open. It is Fernandez’s second semifinal of the season, and the win came against last year’s Ningbo runner-up. The Canadian, who won the Singapore title last month, has now won 12 of her last 15 matches.

Alexandrova took the opening set, but Fernandez controlled play from the start of the second and never let the Russian back into the match. The last two sets took 15 games, and Alexandrova won three of them. It was Fernandez’s second straight win over Alexandrova after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the first round in Wuhan, and it squared their head-to-head at 3-3. Fernandez reached the quarterfinals with a three-set win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday.