The strong 2020 tennis season for Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec continued on Tuesday as she won in the first round of the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky. However, it is just not the fact that Fernandez is off to the second round, which is making headlines. It is the fact that she beat Sloane Stephens of Plantation, Florida, the 2017 United States Open champion, 6-3, 6-3, in the process.
This is one of two WTA events this week as the world’s best tennis players are preparing for the 2020 United States Open later this month. The other is the Prague Open, where Eugenie Bouchard of Montreal, Quebec, has also advanced to the second round.
Fernandez defeated Stephens in only one hour and 13 minutes. The 17-year-old Canadian won 61 points, compared to only 42 points for Stephens. Fernandez also broke Stephens four times, while Stephens only broke Fernandez once.
In the second round in Kentucky, Fernandez will play American Shelby Rogers of Charleston, South Carolina. Meanwhile in Prague, Bouchard will play either Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia or Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the second round. The first round match between Zidansek and Siniakova was suspended with the two players tied at one set apiece.
This was the second time this season that Fernandez beat Stephens. She previously beat her 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round off the WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico in March. Fernandez also stunned Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the Fed Cup qualifier in February, and reached the final of the Acapulco Open in Mexico at the end of February.
