Rising young Canadian tennis star Leylah Annie Fernandez has been eliminated from the Australian Open. The tour came to an abrupt end for the 18-year-old when she was dropped in straight sets during Tuesday’s first round by world No. 18 Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Mertens, who ousted Fernandez by taking the match 6-1, 6-3 in one hour and 26 minutes, complimented the young Canadian after the match, saying she had played a strong and aggressive game. Fernandez, who is currently ranked world No. 89, after having held serve and going up to 1-0 in the opening set, followed by serve tied 2-2 in the second set, eventually booked her ticket out this year’s tournament 6 double faults and 25 unforced errors.
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Not A Bad Start For Canada
The young Canadian was the first from among her countrymen to be ousted from the 2021 edition of the Grand Slam event, with Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Rebecca Marino, and Bianca Andreescu all besting their respective opponents in their opening matches on Monday.
Next down for Canada was Vancouver-native Vasek Pospisil, who fell 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The first-round elimination would not have been a case of water off the duck’s back for the Canadian, who hasn’t managed to win a singles match at the AO since 2015.
Rafa Off To A Solid Tournament
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal on Monday got off to a strong start in his push to achieve a men’s record 21 Grand Slam singles titles.
Nadal, who missed out on last week’s ATP Cup in home country Spain because of a problem with stiffness in his lower back, didn’t show any signs of physical discomfort as he made quick work of beating Serbian Laslo Djere in Monday’s first-round match ups.
The past 15 days had not been easy going for him, said Nadal during his post-match interview. Following issues experienced with his back, he said he only wanted to survive opening day, which was what he did.
A Win Is A Win
Also on the international front, off to a struggling start had been Sofia Kenin of Florida. The 22-year-old battled first-day jitters all throughout her match against world No. 133 Australian and wild-card entry Maddison Inglis.
She eventually did end up beating Inglis, however, but said after the match that the 7-5, 6-4 victory had not been the result of her having played her best game.
Even so, chuckled the Russian-turned-American, a win was a win.
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