Leylah Fernandez overcame some rust and nervous moments early in the match before finding her bearings and knocking out France’s Alizé Cornet 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Lavalloise, 40th in the world, faced 0-2 and 1-3 deficits in the first set before finding her rhythm and winning the first set in 55 minutes.
Victim of a break in the first game of the match, Fernandez brought the duel back to equal service thanks to a break in the sixth game. She ended this first set thanks to her second break of the match, in the 12th game.
Fernandez was more efficient in the second set, especially on her serve, where she gave her 32-year-old rival, ranked 34th in the world, no break chance.
She broke away from Cornet with a break in the sixth game to give herself a 4-2 lead. She ended the match with another break of serve, when Cornet sent a backhand over the baseline.
Fernandez finished the match with two aces, only one double fault, 25 winners and 29 unforced errors. By comparison, Cornet had two aces but committed seven double faults, scored 14 winners and 32 unforced errors.
In the second round, Fernandez will face another Frenchwoman, and not the least, Caroline Garcia, seeded fourth.
Garcia reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Canadian Katherine Sebov in 65 minutes.
Aged 24 and ranked 191st in the world, Sebov was making her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
The Canadian fought a good battle against Garcia during the first six games and even gave herself two break points in the fifth game, which the Frenchwoman was able to erase.
Garcia had the first break of service of the match in the eighth game before completing the first set by winning all four points on his serve.
In the second set, Garcia won in just 25 minutes and only conceded seven points to her opponent.