ADELAIDE, Australia – The 2022 calendar has started off quietly for Leylah Fernandez.
Playing in Adelaide, the Laval player lost 6-1 and 6-2 to the Polish Iga Swiatek in the second round.
Fifth seed, Swiatek obtained all four breakages of the match.
Fernandez, finalist at Fushing Meadows last year, also committed the five double faults of the meeting.
Earlier in the day, seed Ashleigh Barty erased a one-sided deficit before defeating Coco Gauff 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
The Wimbledon champion was twice shattered in the first set and trailed 2-4 when faced with yet another break point in the second set. She recovered in time, however, and won 11 of the last 13 games.
Barty, a holder of two Grand Slam titles, hopes to become the first Australian to win a major tournament at home since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
Barty reached the Australian Open four in 2020, and the quarter-finals in 2019 and last year.
She has a second round pass in Adelaide, one of the main warm-up tournaments ahead of the Australian Open, which begins on January 17.
For their part, the second and third seeds could not get through the second round.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka was surprised 7-6 (6), 6-1 by world 100th racquet Kaja Juvan, while American Shelby Rogers ousted No. 3 Maria Sakkari 7-6 (5 ), 2-6, 6-4.
It was Juvan’s first victory against a top-10 player, and it got her a pass to the quarter-finals.
Rogers will cross swords in the quarterfinals with seventh seed Elena Rybakina.
Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic mean that several tournaments are going on simultaneously before the Australian Open.
The Adelaide tournament, on the WTA 500 circuit, is one of three tournaments underway this week, in addition to the two taking place as part of the famous ‘Summer Set’ in Melbourne.
In the ‘Summer Set 1’ tournament on Wednesday, second seed Simona Halep defeated Destanee Aiava 6-4, 6-2, while Madison Brengle beat Hao Hibino 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4 ). In the next round, she will face third seed Veronika Kudermetova, who defeated Viktoria Kuzmova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).
In the ‘Summer Set 2’ tournament, 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys knocked out Harriet Dart 6-3, 7-6 (2). She will face third seed Daria Kasatkina in the quarter-finals.
The main men’s tournament this week is the ATP Cup in Sydney. Daniil Medvedev will then try to help Russia defend their title successfully. For his part, Rafael Nadal is playing a preparatory tournament in Melbourne.
