Canada’s Leylah Fernandez cruises to 1st-round win over Bernarda Pera at Dubai Open
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez cruised into the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Bernarda Pera of the United States on Monday.
Fernandez converted four of her five breaks in the second set and wrapped up the match in 79 minutes to improve to 2-0 against Pera.
The 21-year-old from Laval, Que., improved her record this season to 6-3.
She entered the WTA 1000 tournament with a season-high world ranking of 33rd, a five-point jump from last week after she advanced to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open.
.<a href=”https://twitter.com/leylahfernandez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@leylahfernandez</a> comes out on top against Pera, securing her second career win in Dubai! <br><br>Dominant performance! 💯<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DDFTennis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#DDFTennis</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/WTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@WTA</a> <a href=”https://t.co/XrH9O33YeL”>pic.twitter.com/XrH9O33YeL</a>
—@DDFTennis
Fernandez will next face world No. 26 Jasmine Paolini of Italy. Paolini advanced with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.
Fernandez is 3-0 against Paolini, including a singles victory in Canada’s 2-0 win over Italy in the 2023 Billie Jean Cup final.
In first-round doubles action, Fernandez and partner Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia fell 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Sofia Kenin of the U.S.
Azarenka lines up Rybakina early
Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka put away Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-4 and set up a second-round matchup with Elena Rybakina.
The top four women — Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Rybakina — are reunited for the first time since the Australian Open. All of them received first-round byes and will play on Tuesday.
No. 1-ranked Swiatek overcame Rybakina in the Doha final on Saturday. The Doha-Dubai title double was last achieved in 2007 by Justine Henin. Swiatek lost in the final last year. She starts against former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens.
No. 2 Sabalenka ends a three-week layoff since winning her second straight Australian Open. She faces Donna Vekic but has never passed the Dubai quarterfinals.
Former champions Elena Svitolina and No. 9-seeded Jelena Ostapenko won.
Svitolina, the winner in 2017 and 2018, defeated fellow Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Ostapenko defied 11 aces from Wang Xiyu of China to prevail 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in two hours. The 2022 champion has won in Adelaide and Linz already this year.
Also in form is Karolina Pliskova, a former finalist. The Czech won in Cluj-Napoca two weeks ago and reached the Doha semifinals last week. Pliskova defeated Zhang Shuai of China 6-3, 7-5.
