In a thrilling start to the Tennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland, top seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Leylah Fernandez faced contrasting outcomes in their first-round matches. While Haddad Maia battled her way to victory, Fernandez found herself on the wrong side of a hard-fought contest.
Brazil’s No. 1 seed, Beatriz Haddad Maia, overcame Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic with a 6-3, 7-5 win on Tuesday. Although the score might suggest a straightforward win, the match told a different story. Haddad Maia cruised through the first set, but Golubic mounted a fierce comeback in the second, surging to a 5-0 lead. However, Haddad Maia, a Roland Garros semifinalist in 2023, showed her resilience by winning seven consecutive games, avoiding a third set in the process. During her comeback, she saved two set points at 5-2 and four more at 5-4, ultimately clinching the match in just under two hours.
With this victory, Haddad Maia moves on to face Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the second round. Haddad Maia holds a perfect 3-0 record against Bucsa in their previous encounters.
In another dramatic match earlier in the day, Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan staged a remarkable comeback to upset the No. 2 seed, Leylah Fernandez, with a 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 victory in a marathon 2 hours and 32 minutes. This marked Bogdan’s ninth career win over a Top 25 player and her second victory over Fernandez, extending her head-to-head lead to 2-0.
Fernandez dominated the first set and had a chance to close out the match when serving at 5-4 in the second set. However, Bogdan fought back, winning the tiebreak without facing a match point. In the final set, Bogdan stormed to a 5-0 lead, but Fernandez mounted a last-ditch effort, saving seven match points in an epic 5-1 game that featured 15 deuces and lasted 22 minutes. Despite the setback, Bogdan remained composed and secured the win in the next game.
This victory marks Bogdan’s first main-draw win since Roland Garros, where she also secured a Top 25 win against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In the second round, Bogdan will face a familiar opponent, Belgium’s Greet Minnen, whom she defeated in the final round of qualifying just days prior.
