Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec, won her opening round match at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha on Monday. It was a first-round upset for Fernandez as she defeated the 12th seed and 15th player in the world, Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, 7-5, 7-6.
Fernandez, the player ranked 38th in the world, made the most of her break point opportunities. She broke Samsonova three times on six occasions, including a crucial break near the end of the first set. In the second set tiebreak, Fernandez defeated Samsonova 7-4.
There was a lot of energy in Fernandez’s game. She broke Samsonova early in the match and didn’t go down too badly when she was knocked back.
Samsonova is a strong opponent. She has won four tennis tournaments on the WTA Tour (2021 German Open, 2022 Washington Open, 2022 Tennis in Cleveland and 2022 Pan Pacific Open). Then last year Samsonova reached the finals of the United Arab Emirates, Canada and China. In the final of the National Bank Open in Montreal, Samsonova lost 1:6, 0:6 to Jessica Pegula from the USA.
Next up for Fernandez is Paula Badosa from Spain, the quarterfinalist of the 2021 French Open. Badosa has won two straight matches so far. The first came in the fourth round at Indian Wells in 2022 (6-4, 6-4) and the second came in the second round at Charleston in 2023 (7-5, 7-6).
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