MATCH REPORT | 2024 China Open: Peyton Stearns confounds Leylah Fernandez's form woes, sets up Anna Kalinskaya clash

Peyton Stearns will face Anna Kalinskaya in the third round of the 2024 China Open after taking down Leylah Fernandez to confound the form woes of the Canadian as of late and move into the third round.

Stearns lost early in Korea last week to Emma Raducanu who went on to suffer an injury. This off the back of a third round showing at the US Open for the American. She now faces Anna Kalinskaya, the 10th seed on Sunday after sealing a 7-5, 6-2 win.

Stearns opened her campaign by seeing off Jessica Bouzas Maneiro without a great degree of difficulty on Wednesday. The same can be said for Fernandez. She has not won since reaching the Quarter-Finals of Cincinnati back in August with three defeats in a row now at the first time of asking.

It was a pretty even start to the contest as Stearns led 3-1 and 4-2. But this lead was cutback with a break from Fernandez at 4-4 that perhaps looked to open the floodgates as she then held for 5-4. But she was broken as she looked to head towards the set as Stearns went 6-5 up and sealed the deal 7-5. She seemed to dampen the spirit of Fernandez as she broke twice to go 4-1 up and despite Fernandez breaking back, Stearns capitalised finally on her sixth opportunity to go 5-2 up before sealing the win.

Next is Anna Kalinskaya. She came from a set down to defeat Hailey Baptiste in a real scare avoided. She lost the first 6-3 and had the win in two tie-breaks to book her spot as the World No.14 struggled against the World No.111. Also wins for Katie Volynets dumping out Marta Kostyuk, Elina Avanesyan won in three against Caroline Dolehide. While Paula Badosa also took down Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2.