Leylah Fernandez cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over fellow Canadian Rebecca Marino in first-round women’s singles action on Sunday at the U.S. Open in New York City.
Fernandez of Laval, Que., had one ace and three double faults but converted on all five of her break-point opportunities.
Marino, from Vancouver, fired two aces and also had three double faults in the one-hour, eight-minute match.
However, she only converted one of her five break-point chances.
The 34-year-old Marino came into Sunday having gone through three qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw.
Fernandez, the 31st seed, will next face the winner between the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova and France’s Elsa Jacquemot.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., rolled to a straight-sets victory over Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino in their first-round U.S. Open match.
Raducanu wins 1st match in N.Y. since 2021 title
Emma Raducanu finally ended her winless rut at the U.S. Open, earning her first victory at the Grand Slam tournament since taking the 2021 title there as an 18-year-old qualifier, eliminating Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2 in just 62 minutes on Sunday.
“Of course, I’m very, very pleased,” Raducanu said, noting it had been a while since she came out on the right side of a score in New York, “so it’s extra special.”
After her surprising championship four years ago, which remains her only tour-level trophy, the Toronto-born athlete lost in the first round at Flushing Meadows in 2022, missed the tournament in 2023 — when she had operations on both of her wrists and an ankle — and again exited in her opening match a year ago.
“First rounds are always difficult, especially at a Slam,” Raducanu said Sunday. “There are always nerves.”
But Raducanu, who is now 22, has been enjoying something of a renaissance this season, putting in strong performances, even in a pair of losses to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, and lifting her ranking from outside the top 70 to No. 36 this week, leaving the 22-year-old from Britain just outside the seedings at the U.S. Open.
On a partly cloudy and breezy morning, Raducanu came out strong in the day’s first match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, needing just 40 minutes to lead by a set and two breaks at 3-0 in the second.
With her new coach, Francisco Roig, who worked with 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal for many years, sitting near a corner of the court and constantly offering positive reinforcement, Raducanu’s groundstrokes frequently rushed Shibahara, a qualifier from Japan who is ranked 128th.
“Vamos!” Roig said at one point. “You’re doing very good.”
Life-altering triumph
Shibahara hadn’t dropped a set through her three qualifying wins, and Raducanu knows better than anyone what sort of momentum can be gained from that sort of prelude to the main draw. Raducanu is the only tennis player to win a Grand Slam title after needing to go through qualifying to earn a spot in the tournament bracket.
Since that life-altering triumph, though, things haven’t gone to plan for Raducanu. In 2022, she became only the third reigning women’s champion in the professional era to lose in the first round a year later, after Svetlana Kuznetsova and Angelique Kerber.
And then came several injury issues.
Raducanu is healthy now, and she showed what she can do when at her best against an overmatched opponent.
She faced only one break point, and saved it.
She made only six unforced errors and made headway by allowing Shibahara to finish with 36.
“Managed myself, managed my game, during that match,” Raducanu said. “I see the progress I’m making on the practice court.”
American men Shelton, Fritz off to strong start
There’s a larger contingent of Americans in the U.S. Open men’s bracket than at any time in the past quarter-century. Might be the best crop in nearly that long, too, and two of the leaders — Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton — got the tournament started on Sunday with dominant performances.
Shelton, the No. 6 seed and twice a Grand Slam semifinalist, needed only two hours seven minutes to get past qualifier Ignacio Buse of Peru 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the first contest in Arthur Ashe Stadium on the event’s debut of a Sunday start instead of Monday.
Fritz, the No. 4 seed and the runner-up to Jannik Sinner at Flushing Meadows a year ago, needed about 10 fewer minutes to move on with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 victory over yet another U.S. man, Emilio Nava, a wild-card entry, at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
In all, there are 23 men from the host country in the field, the most since the same number were in the draw in 1997 at what Fritz called “the most important tournament for us Americans all year.” There are 25 U.S. women, which is less of a milestone for a group that regularly produces Grand Slam champions and finalists.
“I do think the competition among all of us,” Fritz said about the men, “pushes all of us and gives us motivation to be better.”
They’re all chasing the same prize: the first Grand Slam singles trophy for an American man since Andy Roddick triumphed in New York in 2003.
Who is on Monday’s schedule?
Venus Williams is slated to make her return to Grand Slam tennis after a two-year absence, meeting 2023 French Open finalist Karolina Muchova at 7 p.m. ET.
The 45-year-old Williams is a seven-time major singles champion.
Others on the Day 2 program include Carlos Alcaraz against big-serving American Reilly Opelka, Australian Open champion Madison Keys, and two-time U.S. Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe.
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