Tennis·ROUNDUP
It wasn’t vintage Leylah Fernandez, but the 21-year-old from Laval, Que., found a way to grind out a victory on Saturday in her opening singles match at the 15-day Australian Open.
Laval, Que., native tops 17-year-old Czech qualifier Sara Bejlek in MelbourneThe Canadian Press
· Posted: Jan 13, 2024 9:23 PM EST | Last Updated: 8 hours ago
Leylah Fernandez of Canada plays a forehand in her round one singles match victory over Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic on Saturday at the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne. (Kelly Defina/Getty Images)It wasn’t vintage Leylah Fernandez, but the 21-year-old from Laval, Que., found a way to grind out a victory on Saturday in her opening singles match at the 15-day Australian Open.
Fernandez needed a tiebreaker to win the first set 7-6 (5) in an hour against 17-year-old qualifier Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic, then won the second 6-2 in 31 minutes to advance.
Fernandez finished with two aces, two double faults, one tiebreak victory and 18 unforced errors.
“Sara is a very good young player,” said Fernandez, who was ousted in the first round last year at the U.S. Open. “I’m super-happy I was able to play some good points in important moments. It feels good.”
WATCH l Fernandez advances to 2nd round in Melbourne:
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez advances to Australian Open 2nd round with win in straight setsLeylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., defeats qualifier Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-2 on the opening day of the 2024 Australian Open.
Bejlek had no aces, one double fault and 12 unforced errors.
Fernandez was good on 71 per cent of her first serves and won 33 points on the first serve. She won eight service games and four return games.
Fernandez will play the winner of the match between American Alycia Parks and qualifier Daria Snigur of Ukraine.
Jannik Sinner tops Botic van de ZandschulpJannik Sinner picked up where he left off in 2023 by easing past Botic van de Zandschulp into the second round of the Australian Open.
The clean-hitting Italian fourth seed, the hottest player on the men’s tour at the back end of last season with victories over Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, was quickly back in his groove on Rod Laver Arena.
Although far from perfect, he broke his Dutch opponent to open the contest and grabbed another break to serve for the second set before securing his place in the second round 6-4 7-5 6-3 after 2 1/2 hours on court.
“It’s my first match of the season and it means a lot to get a win,” said Sinner, who was cheered on by the “Carota Boys,” a band of fans dressed as carrots.
“It’s a tournament where I would like to play as good as possible … hopefully I can show more as I go along. The first match is never easy, I think I can be happy.”
Djokovic going for record 25th Grand Slam titleDjokovic was set to open his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title in the night session on Rod Laver Arena. He’s on a 28-match winning streak at Melbourne Park.
The 10-time Australian Open champion’s first-round match is against Dino Prizmic, who won the junior title at last year’s French Open.
Aryna Sabalenka was scheduled to start her title defence against Ella Seidel in the last match of the day on the main show court.
Andre Agassi, who won the last of his four Australian titles in 2003, joined Evonne Goolagong Cawley to carry the trophies into the tennis complex before play began on the first of the tournament’s three Sundays.
Tournament organizers are honouring Goolagong Cawley on the 50th anniversary of the first of her four Australian Open titles in 1974. She also won Wimbledon twice and the French Open once.
With files from Nick Mulvenney of Reuters, Simon Cambers of The Associated Press
