Laval’s Leylah Annie Fernandez advanced to the second round of the Abu Dhabi Tennis Open, a WTA 500 category tournament, thanks to a victory in two sets of 6-0, 6-3 against Frenchwoman Chloé Paquet on Sunday.
Sixth seed and 23rd player in the world, Fernandez needed just 65 minutes to defeat Paquet, a 31-year-old ranked 240th in the WTA rankings.
Although she had no aces and committed two double faults, Fernandez faced no break points and conceded only eight points on her serve.
The Quebecer also won 81% of the points after placing her first ball in play, and 79% of the points when she needed her second serve.
Fernandez completely dominated the first set against Paquet, who was admitted to the main draw as a “fortunate loser” following the withdrawal of Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
The 23-year-old from Laval won 24 of the 30 points in the opening round, including the last seven of the set. Fernandez followed up by winning the first four points of the opening game of the second set.
Paquet still offered better resistance during this second set until the eighth game, during which she lost her serve, giving Fernandez a 5-3 lead.
For Fernandez, it is a first victory of 2026 after a difficult Australian tour to kick off the new season.
In fact, Fernandez ended a four-game losing streak. This series began at the Hong Kong tournament in November, when Fernandez lost the last two sets of the semi-final against her Canadian compatriot Victoria Mboko.
Fernandez began the year 2026 by losing in two sets of 6-1, 6-2 against the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska at the Brisbane tournament, after benefiting from a direct bye in the second round.
A week later, in Adelaide, Fernandez lost again in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, against Russian Diana Shnaider.
Finally, in the first round of the Australian Open, Fernandez lost 6-2, 7-6 (1) to Indonesian Janice Tjen.
In the second round, Fernandez will face the American McCartney Kessler, 37th player in the world, who beat the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3.
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