Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez and her American doubles partner Bethany Mattek-Sands defeated Brazilian Luisa Stefani and Kazakh Anna Danilina 1-6, 6-3 and 11-9 in the first round on Monday at the Tennis Championship Dubai.
Fernandez, from Laval, and Mattek-Sands will now meet Russia’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich and China’s Yifan Xu. The latter set the table for this second-round duel by beating Britons Harriet Dart and Eden Silva 4-6, 6-1 and 10-6.
The 20-year-old Quebecer got off to a good start at the Dubai Tennis Championships in singles on Sunday with a straight-set victory of 6-4, 6-2 against Austria’s Julia Grabher.
In the next round, Fernandez will cross swords with Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the world’s leading player, very possibly on Tuesday.
For her part, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu will face Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the ninth seed of the tournament, a little later on Monday.
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