After a difficult spell in Doha, Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez regained her composure at Sunday’s Dubai tournament to easily advance to the second round.
Fernandez, who suffered a defeat in the last qualifying phase in Qatar last week, prevailed in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 against Austria’s Julia Grabher.
It took the 20-year-old athlete 1h 15min to have the 90th racquet in the world resulting from the qualification. She will face a completely different challenge in her next duel when she will cross swords with the world’s first player, Iga Swiatek.
Fernandez excelled in all facets of the game in the match of the day. She won 87% of the rallies when she landed her first serve, conceding just one break to Grabher.
His stats were just as good when his opponent was in possession. She offered eight break points, delighted the Austrian’s serve four times and emerged victorious from nearly half of her rival’s rallies.
This season Fernandez has crossed the singles round of 16 only once at the Auckland tournament.
His only confrontation with the talented Swiatek dates back to January 5, 2022 in Adelaide. The Pole made short work of the Montrealer and won in straight sets 6-1 and 6-2.