Canadians Leylah Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski lose at Flushing Meadows

NEW YORK — The last two Canadian women who were still active in the main draws of the United States Open tennis tournament on Wednesday had to pack up.

Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski, in women’s doubles, then Laval’s Leylah Annie Fernandez, in mixed doubles, were in turn eliminated from their respective competitions.

Dabrowski and her partner, Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos, were defeated by Czechs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the last Grand Slam of the season.

Then, at the start of the evening, Fernandez and the American Jack Sock lost their flag against the Australian tandem of Storm Sanders and John Peers in two sets of 7-5, 7-6 (3), also in the quarter-finals.

Canada also had five standard bearers in the junior draws, but only Victoria Mboko, a 16-year-old Torontonian, is still in contention. On Wednesday, she beat Iva Jovic of the United States 6-2, 6-2 to earn her spot in the quarterfinals.

The thin Canadian representation late at the tournament this year is in stark contrast to the situation last year when Fernandez made the women’s singles final, Félix Auger-Aliassime the men’s singles semi-final, and Dabrowski the women’s doubles semi-final.

This year, Fernandez and Auger-Aliassime suffered singles elimination in the second round.

It had been more than a week since Fernandez was eliminated in singles action — yet she was still active in the tournament until Wednesday.

Facing Sanders and Peers, Fernandez and Sock seemed destined to force a decisive set on serve after taking a 5-2 lead in the second set.

Fernandez was then the victim of a broken service, Sock suffered the same fate two games later, and everything quickly degenerated.

“Today was just not my day. We had so many opportunities, but in those key moments, we weren’t as solid as in other rounds or as our opponents today,” Fernandez said.

« It happens. I can’t blame myself too much for that. But I think it was a great experience for me — especially since it was my first time in mixed doubles. I had a lot of fun,” added the Quebecer.

Fernandez and Sock had knocked out Dabrowski and his Australian partner Max Purcell in the second round of mixed doubles earlier in the week, with a rowdy, partisan crowd in support of the Fernandez-Sock tandem.

For Dabrowski, there were a few happy moments during this year’s tournament, but not enough of them.

“We won a tough game the other day, a very emotional, long game, in really difficult conditions,” Dabrowski described of the duel which ended 6-3, 3-6, 10-8, Sunday, against Asia Muhammad and Ena Shibahara.

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With contributions from Stephanie Myles