Leylah Fernandez and partner Taylor Townsend advance at the US Open

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NEW YORK – Canadian Leylah Fernandez and her American partner Taylor Townsend prevailed in the women’s doubles tournament at the US Open.

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Fernandez and Townsend defeated Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the round of 16 on Sunday.

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Ottawa’s Gabrielle Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe, who formerly represented Canada, will face Czechs Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova on Monday.

Fernandez and Townsend will face the winner of that match in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.

Pliskova and Vekic built a 2-0 lead in the first set, but Fernandez and Townsend forced a tiebreak to take the lead. This momentum continued into the second set, where they took an early 3-0 lead.

Although Pliskova and Vekic had four aces to Fernandez and Townsend two, they also committed seven double faults to the four Canadian-American pairs.

Fernandez and Townsend won 79 percent of their first serves and 62 percent of their second serves and won three of eight break points.