Leylah Fernandez moved on while Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered a surprise first-round loss at Wimbledon on Monday.
Fernandez of Laval, Que., defeated Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to record her first main draw win of her career at the All England Club.
In her only other appearance at the Grand Slam on grass in 2021, she was eliminated in the first round.
Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime, seeded 11th in the men’s draw, was edged out by America’s lucky loser Michael Mmoh, who posted a 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6 -4 Victory Booked.
Auger-Aliassime, playing for the first time since a first-round loss to Fabio Fognini at the French Open, had 17 aces to mmoh’s 12 and made 10 more winners than his opponent but was eliminated by 64 unforced errors.
Richmond Hill, Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov’s game against Romania’s Radu Albot was stopped due to darkness. Albot led the game 7-5, 2-2.
Fernandez, a 20-year-old left-hander, won just 65 percent of her first serve points but broke 29-year-old Baindl’s serve six times en route to victory.
The Canadian, who is ranked No. 95 in the world, faces a difficult match against No. 5 Caroline Garcia of France in the next round.
Mmoh used a consistent service game to win his first career game against Auger-Aliassime.
The American was accurate on 71 percent of his first serves and winning 82 percent of first serve points, compared to 60 and 80 percent for Auger-Aliassime, respectively.
Auger-Aliassime fell to 13-11 this season, a stark contrast to a 2022 season in which he won four ATP Tour titles, rose to No. 6 in the world rankings and led Canada to their first-ever Davis Cup title.
He lost in the first round of Wimbledon for the second straight season after reaching the quarter-finals in 2021.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 3, 2023.
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