MELBOURNE — Leylah Annie Fernandez shook off some rust and early nervousness before calming down and defeating Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2 in women’s singles first-round action at the Australian Open on Monday night.
The 20-year-old athlete from Montreal trailed 2-0, 3-1 in the first set before finding her groove en route to a 55-minute, 7-5 win over her 32-year-old rival from Nice, France .
It took Fernandez less time to win the second set as she seemed to get stronger throughout the game while her competitor faltered after a strong first set.
Fernandez had 24 service winners, an ace, no double faults and 19 unforced errors, most of them in the first half of the first set. Cornet had two aces, 26 unforced errors and six double faults.
24-year-old Toronto’s Katherine Sebov, making her Grand Slam debut, currently meets 29-year-old Caroline Garcia of France, the 2022 WTA singles champion and No. 4 player at the Australian Open, on the Melbourne Park court .