Leylah Fernandez was showered with love from her fans at the 2025 Italian Open. Last year, at the WTA 1000 clay court tournament in Rome, Fernandez suffered a defeat in the first round, losing 4-6, 1-6 to Ana Bogdan.
Fernandez kicked off her clay court season at the 2025 Madrid Open, where she was seeded 25th. She received a first-round bye and faced Ann Li in her opening match and was defeated with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-3, 4-6.
In the doubles event of the tournament, Fernandez teamed up with Yulia Putintseva. Their first-round match against the Australian duo of Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez ended in a loss of 7-6 (5), 4-6, [9-11].
Leylah Fernandez Receives Love From Fans at Italian Open 2025
Before entering the 2025 Italian Open, Fernandez participated in the 2025 Catalonia Open. She was the top seed in the singles event and cruised past qualifier Lucía Cortez Llorca in the first round with a score of 6-1, 6-2, but was defeated by Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round with a score of 4-6, 6-2, 2-6.
In the doubles event, Fernandez and her partner Lulu Sun finished as the runners-up after losing 2-6, 4-6 to Bianca Andreescu and Aldila Sutjiadi in the final.
This year, at the Italian Open, Fernandez is seeded 24th and will begin her run in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. She is scheduled to play qualifier Antonia Ružić.
Ahead of her match against Ružić, Fernandez was greeted by a packed stadium during a practice session. She took to social media to share images of the crowd and expressed her gratitude to her fans for their support. She also shared a video of her signing autographs for the fans.
“When it rains… we play 🤣,” Fernandez captioned her Instagram story. “Full 🏡 at @internazionalibnlditalia,” she continued.
“Love seeing all of you here!! 😍😍😍,” she added.
Fernandez To Face Antonia Ružić in Italian Open 2025
Fernandez is set to compete against Ružić in the second round of the 2025 Italian Open. Ružić earned her spot in Round 2 after making her way through the qualifying rounds.
Ružić triumphed over Yuan Yue with a score of 6-3, 6-4 in the first qualifying round, and then secured a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Jule Niemeier to advance to the main draw.
Here, Ružić registered a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over wild card Tyra Caterina Grant in the first round to secure her spot against Fernandez.
Fernandez and Ružić have never competed against each other on the WTA Tour, making their upcoming second-round match at the 2025 Italian Open the first matchup between them. The winner will advance to face either the 14th-seeded Daria Kasatkina or Marta Kostyuk in the third round.
