Leylah Fernandez was the standout for the Canada in their Billie Jean King Cup win last year and she has begun her gold medal journey with a three set win at the Olympic Games.
Fernandez took down Karolina Muchova in one of the best ties on paper of the opening round of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Canadian has previously been dubbed 'Claylah' for her prowess on the surface. While this is also a good win due to her opponent.
Muchova has just reached the final in Palermo only losing to Qinwen Zheng and is a previous finalist at Roland Garros returning to the site of her final run for the first time. But despite wrestling back the tie, the Czech ace fell in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in favour of Fernandez.
It also marks a bit of a golden day for Canadian tennis. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Bianca Andreescu and now Fernandez are through to the second round. Milos Raonic now is to come aiming to join them and make it a clean sweep. But in terms of her opener in Paris, it is fantastic Fernandez through.
Lasting just over two hours and 20 minutes, it was all Fernandez to start, she surged into a 3-0 and 5-1 lead breaking serve and sealing the opening set 6-1 for early impetus. Before Muchova showed real grit and guile to battle back. She went 4-3 down but broke to make it 4-4 and went 5-4 up before serving it out and to set up a thrilling conclusion. But Fernandez eased through the final set finding her best tennis when she needed it the most. Next is Cristian Bucsa. A big chance awaits too with Jaqueline Cristian or Angelique Kerber on the next section.
Others through this afternoon included Marta Kostyuk with Lulu Sun's late chance not providing in a 6-4, 6-3 win for the Ukrainian. Magda Linette won the battle of late arrivals as the latest new WTA winner Mirra Andreeva ran out of road 6-3, 6-4.
Whilst Camila Osorio stunned Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 and Katie Boulter fell against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in a surprising first round loss 6-4, 6-2.
Fernandez d. Muchova 6-1 4-6 6-2 In her 2nd Olympics appearance, this was a brutal draw Leylah found a way to pull out her best tennis in the last set She looks determined to make something happen this week ✅2nd win at the Olympics Got that look in her eye 🇨🇦❤️
