Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez suffers 1st round exit in Australian Open

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Filipina-Canadian tennis superstar Leylah Fernandez is out of the 2022 Australian Open.

Months after a magical grand finals run during the 2021 US Open, the women’s world no. 24 player lost to wild-card qualifier and world no. 127 home bet Maddison Inglis in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.

It was a frustrating outing for Fernandez after committing six double faults while failing to snatch one breakpoint in the entire contest.

The 19-year-old sensation admitted that it wasn’t the performance she was expecting: “Today was just not a good day. Too many mistakes.”

On the other hand, Inglis had a performance of a lifetime after showing her versatility inside the court when she outdueled Fernandez in the baseline game and even scored several crucial points at the net area.

The 24-year-old Aussie also broke Fernandez’s serve three times and made a living out of her service game when she registered 43 points from there.

Fernandez will try to recover and bounce back in the next Grand Slam tournament during the French Open scheduled around late May to early June.

Meanwhile, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, dispatched Sloane Stephens in three grueling sets during her first-round outing, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1.