Fernandez continues impressive grass-court season with first-round Wimbledon win

LONDON — Canada's Leylah Fernandez continued her impressive grass-court season Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy's Lucia Bronzetti in first-round action at Wimbledon.

Fernandez, seeded 30th in the women's singles draw at the All England Club, had three breaks in the match, including a key win to go up 4-2 in the second set.

The 21-year-old from Laval, Que., won 80 per cent of both first serve points and net points, hit 21 winners to Bronzetti's 10 and outscored her opponent 73-57 on total points.

Fernandez, who advanced to the final at the Eastbourne International heading into Wimbledon, improved to 7-2 on grass this season.

She joins Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., who won their first-round matches Monday, in the second round.

Fernandez, who has never made it past the second round at Wimbledon, will next face Danish wild card Caroline Wozniacki, a former world No. 1. Wozniacki moved on with a 6-2, 6-0 win over American qualifier Alycia Parks.

Later Tuesday, 19-year-old qualifier Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., lost her Grand Slam main draw debut 6-4, 6-2 to 27th seed Katerina Siniakova of Czechia.

Siniakova converted all 12 net points and four of 24 break points against Stakusic.

In men's action, a match between 17th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis was suspended due to darkness with the Canadian leading 6-4, 7-5, 6-9 (11), 1-1.

In a wild third-set tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime came back from 5-0 down and had four match points, including two on serve, but couldn't put the Australian away.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2024.