‘The wait continues’ Leylah Fernandez defeated yet again in the first round of the Australian Open, loses to World No. 133 Maddison Inglis
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Leylah Fernandez
World No. 24 and runner-up at the 2021 US Open, Leylah Fernandez went out in straight-sets in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open to wildcard entrant and local girl Maddison Inglis who is ranked 133rd in the WTA singles rankings. Maddison won the match 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour and 23 minutes on the 1573 Arena.
Leylah was the clear favourite coming into this tie but as she surprised the entire tennis fraternity in New York last year, she was on the receiving end this time as Maddison, who was yet to win a main-draw Grand Slam match knocked out the Canadian who joins Coco Gauff as another high rated teen to go out in the opening round of the Slam this year.
While both the players had 2 aces each, Leylah had 6 double faults to Maddison’s 4. Leylah failed to convert any of the 3 breakpoints while Inglis managed to win the 3/5 breakpoints opportunities she had. While the two players were close in the unforced errors as Leylah had 30 to Maddison’s 27, the Australian won 70 points while Leylah managed only 54 as she went crashing out.
“No, I seriously can’t. I am shaking. I am super stoked. I executed my gameplay really well,” said a jubilated Maddison who now moves into the second round. Playing the match in front of her family and friends who cheered on her on every point, the 24-year old Australian was emotional and said she was ‘going to cry’ after the overwhelming support she had on court today.
Maddison Inglis to take on Hailey Baptiste in Round 2, Leylah Fernandez return to Tour
Leylah now has a good time at her hands to rectify her mistakes and prepare for the long Tour season that will begin from February including the Monterrey Open where she will be the defending champion having won her first-ever WTA title last year at the tournament.
As for Maddison, she will now take on American Hailey Baptiste who entered the main-draw through the qualifiers and Caroline Garcia in 3-sets to enter the 2nd round of the Grand Slam.
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Sarthak Shitole
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