By Canadian Press

Canadian Fernandez drops Rogers Cup main draw debut 6-0, 6-1 to Bouzkova

Aug 5, 2019 | 12:06 PM

TORONTO — Canadian teenager Leylah Annie Fernandez made a quick exit in her Rogers Cup main draw debut Monday, losing 6-0, 6-1 to qualifier Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic on centre court.

The 16-year-old from Laval, Que., won just 37 per cent of her first-service points, losing the match in just over an hour in front of a half-filled day session crowd of supporters in Toronto.

Down 5-1 in the second set, Fernandez held off two match points but couldn’t hold off the third. She left the court to a loud applause and showed her appreciation by clapping at the crowd.

Fernandez had trouble from the start, and Bouzkova broke her twice within 10 minutes en route to a 3-0 lead.

The Canadian, who won’t turn 17 for another month, received a loud applause when she fired an ace past Bouzkova to win her only game of the match in the second set.  

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Bouzkova, ranked No. 91, converted 6-of-8 break points and was never broken as she advanced to the second round, where she’ll face a much tougher opponent in American Sloane Stephens — the seventh seed at the tournament and 2017 U.S. Open champion.

Fernandez, a wild card in Toronto, won her first pro tournament at the ITF Gatineau Challenger last month. That, followed by a finals appearance at Granby, Que., a week later, allowed the young Canadian to rocket 115 spots up the standings from the start of July to No. 260 entering Monday.

Fernandez played in last year’s Rogers Cup in Montreal as a 15-year-old, losing in the second round of qualifying.

Fernandez, so new to the WTA that the Tour’s website still doesn’t have a photo on her profile page, also won the French Open girls title this year.

Monday’s loss gives Fernandez an 0-3 record versus top-100 opponents.

Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska, meanwhile, pulled off an upset in the first match of the day on centre court, downing Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-3, 6-2.

The 19-year-old Yastremska converted 4-of-10 break points to dispatch her No. 13-ranked opponent in one hour 21 minutes.

Yastremska fired five aces to Konta’s three and saved 4-of-5 break points, including two in the final game.

The unseeded Yastremska entered her Rogers Cup main draw debut at No. 33, up from No. 104 at this time last year. She was coming off a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon last month, her best showing at a Grand Slam.

Konta, 28, had won the only other career meeting between the two players, ousting Yastremska in the first round of the grass-court Eastbourne tournament in the U.K. in June.

In other action Monday, Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Mertens will face Serena Williams in the second round Wednesday.

American qualifier Jennifer Brady topped wild card Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-1, 6-2 and will face defending Rogers Cup champion Simona Halep in the second round.

Belinda Bencic, the 2015 Rogers Cup champion, beat Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 6-2.

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press