Leylah Fernandez tops Mertens, reaches final 16 at Guadalajara Open

Canadian tennis star Leylah Fernandez has a date in the final 16 at the Guadalajara Open after knocking off 13th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium on Tuesday in Mexico.

Fernandez, of Laval, Quebec, defeated Mertens 6-3, 6-4 in the WTA 1000 tournament and will play the winner of a round-of-32 match between Americans Madison Keys and Emma Navarro.

Both players had three aces in the one-hour, 34-minute match. Mertens had eight double faults while Fernandez had five.

In women’s doubles on Tuesday, Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., and her partner Maria Fernanda Navarro Olivia of Mexico lost 4-6, 6-7 (6) to Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and her partner Xu Yifan of China.

Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand will play Arantxa Rus of Netherlands and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine in a later match on Tuesday.