Fernandez sisters dream of 2028 Olympics after special run in Toronto

After losing in straight sets to American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger in the second round of the National Bank Open, Canada's top-ranked singles player on the WTA Tour, Leylah Annie Fernandez, was full of frustration.

"Just disappointed with my level of play," the No. 15 seed said after failing to break Krueger's serve even once in front of a supportive crowd in Toronto. "I expect a lot more of myself. I don't really care that I lost, it's the way that I lost."

A few hours later, Fernandez faced Krueger again. This time it was in the second round of the doubles tournament. Krueger was playing with countrywoman Catherine Harrison while Fernandez had younger sister Bianca Jolie Fernandez by her side. 

"I had a personal vendetta for her," Bianca Jolie told TSN. "I knew she was very soft and feeling sad, so I was just, like, alright, let's switch that mindset, make her hungry, get her confidence back. I gave her a target. I won't say what it was. I gave myself a target and that's it."

Bianca Jolie wanted "revenge”, and she got it in a 6-3, 4-6, [11-9] cliffhanger. 

"She's very strong and just to see that side of her, when I needed it the most, truly helped me," Leylah Annie said afterwards. "It motivated me and kind of switched things up for myself. In the match tiebreaker, when we did lose the points, I didn't get as upset with myself as usual because she was very positive, and she was playing really well. I think having that type of personality and character by my side helped me in a tough match, tough day."

The sister act eventually came to an end in Sunday's semifinal when the top-seeded team of Ottawa's Gaby Dabrowski and Caledon, Ont.-raised Erin Routliffe claimed a 6-2, 6-4 victory at Sobeys Stadium.  

"They played good and, unfortunately, I played bad," Leylah Annie lamented. "I wasn't able to help out my sister as much."

The question about the match was directed to the elder sister, but Bianca Jolie felt compelled to respond after hearing the answer. 

"We both played bad in different moments," she said while turning to her sister. "It wasn't just you, Leylah. You know, biggest takeaway is that they crowded the net, we had to get out of the middle, and we were a little bit too passive in the beginning."

Dabrowski praised the pair. 

"They are very fiery," the Olympic bronze medallist in mixed doubles observed. "They take the ball really early, so it doesn't lend a lot of time for opponents to make decisions on their own time, so that makes it tricky to play against ... They have good energy between them. Obviously as sisters I think you would hope for that."

This was a rare opportunity for Leylah Annie, 21, and Bianca Jolie, 20. Forget playing together, they rarely see each other these days. Leylah Annie is traversing the globe on the WTA Tour while Bianca Jolie is heading into her second year at UCLA. 

"I don't see her that often," Leylah Annie had noted after Saturday's quarter-final win. "She's in school, so when I do go back home I don't get to see her at home, so just to be able to share the court with her is special. We're just trying to have fun, trying to survive another day and enjoy our moment together."

Bianca Jolie referred to this opportunity to partner up as "a gift." They last joined forces at the 2022 tournament in Toronto where they also received a wild-card entry. That year they won one match before bowing out. 

Father Jorge Fernandez, who coaches both his daughters, got choked up when asked what it was like to see them play together. 

"That's it," he said while pointing to the tears welling up in his eyes. "That's all I can say."

The sisters were born in Montreal, but Toronto is a special place for the family. 

"I lived in Mississauga for almost 10 years," Jorge said. "I met my wife here. She was born in Toronto, so we have a whole bunch of family here."

And the Fernandez sisters fought hard to extend their stay as long as possible. They survived a match point in the quarter-finals to beat veterans Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 7-5, 5-7, [12-10].

"In my head I just thought, 'Bite down. Don't let go,'" Bianca Jolie said after that win. "I didn't double fault the whole match and then I did it in a very important moment. She came up to me and she repeated what I kept saying to her every match, which is, 'It's just you and me.' She just calmed me down that way and I thought, 'Don't let go. Don't let go.'"

By virtue of their close bond, the sisters are comfortable telling each other exactly how they feel even in the heat of battle. 

"The most fun thing is the honesty," Leylah Annie said with a smile. "Mainly her to me. There are times where I love her messages. There are other times where I'm thinking, 'Wow that hurt, but okay, I needed to hear that, so thank you.'"

Leylah Annie is a lefty while Bianca Jolie is a righty, but that's not the biggest difference between the two. 

"Our coach [and father], he's also a very honest guy, and I think I took after him," Bianca Jolie explained. "My sister took after my mom in the whole cheering up and make you feel a little better part, so that's where the honesty comes in. I'm not that great of a person at cheering someone up, so the best way to make her feel better is just being brutally honest and saying what she's great at, but also why she's messing up."

Leylah Annie is now off to Cincinnati where she will face China's Yue Yuan in the first round of another Masters 1,000 event. She'll play doubles there with Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. The US Open, where Leylah Annie reached the final in 2021, is on the horizon. She's currently No. 25 in the rankings, but Jorge feels she's "very, very close" to going on a big run and breaking into the top 10.

Bianca Jolie, meanwhile, is heading back to school. The three wins this week boosted her WTA doubles ranking up more than 700 spots and into the top 200. 

Leylah Annie is already an accomplished doubles player. She reached the 2023 Roland Garros final alongside American Taylor Townsend. 

The Fernandez sisters plan to play more doubles together in the days and years ahead. 

"We hope that we get to play the 2028 Olympics in L.A. together," Leylah Annie revealed. "That would be our top goal. Hopefully, we would have more opportunities to play together, to play tournaments together, and then when we do have time to train together it's more practice doubles, see some patterns of play that we can refine, and see what we can do better. Our No. 1 goal is the 2028 Olympics."

"UCLA stomping grounds for me," Bianca Jolie said with a big smile. "So why wouldn't I want to play at the Olympics there? We have four years to improve, so why not?"