It was an ideal begin for the Canadians on the Guadalajara Open in Mexico on Sunday night as Eugenie Bouchard and Leylah Annie Fernandez each superior to the second spherical of the WTA 1000 match because of a pair of convincing wins.
Bouchard was the primary to take to the court docket in opposition to dwelling favorite Renata Zarazua who had received the 2 earlier conferences between the 2 gamers, in Prague in 2020 and Tampico final season. The third time ended up being the attraction for the Montreal native as she scored a 6-1, 7-6(5) victory to maneuver on.
.@geniebouchard wins in straight units in Guadalajara 🇨🇦😎
Eugenie flies into the second spherical on the Guadalajara Open 🤠
@WTAGuadalajara | @nationalbank pic.twitter.com/xeCWzRB5FX
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) September 18, 2023
Bouchard got here out on a mission, profitable 12 of the primary 14 factors within the match to seize a fast 3-0 lead and she or he finally dictated proceedings the remainder of the best way with a dominant serving efficiency and spectacular ball putting. The one hiccup got here when she received tight serving for the match at 5-3 within the second set, however she recovered properly within the tiebreak. The 29-year-old constructed a 4-0 lead and transformed her first match level with an ace at 6-5. She misplaced simply 13 factors whole on serve within the contest.
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This might be Bouchard’s second straight look in spherical two on the Guadalajara Open. In 2022, she defeated American qualifier Kayla Day within the opening spherical earlier than falling to Jelena Ostapenko. This yr, she’ll face world no. 17 Veronika Kudermetova who posted just one win throughout the American summer time onerous court docket season and missed Montreal attributable to harm. The match is about for Monday at 5 p.m. ET on Centre Courtroom.
Fernandez Rolls Previous Muhammad
Fernandez adopted swimsuit on Sunday night time by comfortably defeating American qualifier Asia Muhammad 6-1, 6-3 to advance in simply over an hour. Identical to her compatriot, the 21-year-old was in cost from begin to end as her opponent, who’s primarily a doubles specialist, was unable to make a lot of an impression in any facet of the match. She was particularly efficient coming ahead to complete off factors on the web and she or he additionally used her selection to achieve the benefit in fairly just a few rallies.
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That is Fernandez’s first win in Guadalajara and she or he’ll look to make it two when she goes up in opposition to Elise Mertens, seeded no. 13 within the draw. They’ve confronted one another as soon as beforehand, on the Australian Open in 2021, and it was the Belgian who got here out on high.
👏 feeling at dwelling 👏@leylahfernandez secures the straight units win over Muhammad and personally delivers a signed ball to a fan 🤩#GDLOpenAKRON pic.twitter.com/ayp65enPXk
— wta (@WTA) September 18, 2023
Along with Bouchard, Canadians Stacey Fung and Carol Zhao will play their opening spherical matches on Monday. Fung will make her WTA important draw debut in opposition to Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Zhao will tackle former Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin of the US. Followers can watch the motion from Guadalajara all week lengthy on TSN and RDS.
