Canada's Leylah Fernandez rolls to victory in 1st match since U.S. Open
CBC
Canadian Leylah Fernandez is picking up right where she left off.
The 19-year-old, playing in her first tournament since a stunning run to the U.S. Open final in September, defeated France's Alizé Cornet 6-2, 6-3 in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on Friday.
Montreal's Fernandez will next play Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.
"I'm very happy with the way I played. I trained very hard after that final, just wanting to be back here in my first Indian Wells," Fernandez said in her post-match on-court interview.
Though the wily 31-year-old Frenchwoman fought back to win two straight games, Fernandez closed out the set by breaking Cornet. Cornet, who played with wrap on her right leg, met with a trainer in between sets and took a three-minute medical timeout before returning with matching wrap on her left leg.
Cornet kept things closer to begin the second set, but Fernandez eventually pulled away, winning the final three games to seal the victory.
On Thursday, Fernandez teamed with 17-year-old American Coco Gauff for a 6-1, 6-1 doubles win in the Round of 32 over Romania's Irina Camelia-Begu and Czechia's Renata Vorácová.
