Canada’s Leylah Fernandez booked her spot in the women’s final of the Rothesay International, picking up an upset win over American Madison Keys on Friday in Eastbourne, England.
The Laval, Que., native scored a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Keys.
Fernandez, the world No. 30, will face Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, who scored a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 semifinal victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, on Saturday.
The title match will be Fernandez’s sixth career final but first on grass and first at the WTA 500 level or above since the 2021 U.S. Open.
Fernandez, who reached the Birmingham quarterfinals earlier this month, is pleased with her grass-court form ahead of Monday’s Wimbledon.
Defeating Keys, ranked 12th and a two-time Eastbourne champion, only bolsters her confidence for the upcoming Grand Slam event.
“We’ve been working super hard the past couple of months [and] the past couple of years, so I am super happy with the results these past few weeks,” said Fernandez.
“It’s good preparation for Wimbledon, but we are just going to focus on [Saturday’s] final.”
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Leylah Fernandez upsets defending champ Madison Keys to reach Rothesay International final
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., upset American Madison Keys 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach her first-ever grass court final at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, England.
Kasatkina says 30th-ranked Fernandez’s aggressive style is a natural fit for grass-court play.
“Grass suits Leylah very good,” Kasatkina said. “She’s in great form now, beat very good players this week. In the finals, everyone wants to win, so I’ll just go and try to enjoy myself, and let’s see how this final is going to turn out.”
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe will play for the women’s doubles title in Eastbourne on Saturday after outlasting Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya 6-7 (2), 6-4, 10-8 in Friday’s semifinal.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, a dual citizen who grew up in Caledon, Ont., meet Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the final.
Fernandez opens Wimbledon vs. Bronzetti
Also Friday, Fernandez and four of her teammates were part of the singles competition draw for Wimbledon.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the top Canadian seed in singles play at No. 17, opens the men’s draw against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., faces No. 19 Nicolas Jarry of Chile.
Fernandez, seeded 30th in the women’s draw, opens against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., will meet Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in her first match, while 19-year-old Marina Stakusic, also from Mississauga, makes her Grand Slam debut against No. 27 Katerina Siniakova of Czechia.
Singles play begins Monday at the All England Club.
In doubles, scheduled to begin Wednesday, the second-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe meet Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova in the first round, while Fernandez and partner Ena Shibahara of Japan play China’s Xinyu Jiang and Hanyu Guo.
In the men’s draw, Shapovalov teams up with Kokkinakis to take on Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Nicolas Mahut of France in Round 1.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
