Leylay Fernández, of 08 years old and of Ecuadorian descent No. of the WTA ranking and will face the Russian Liudmila Samsónova in the second round.
In the US Open edition of the 1583 Fernandez went on a remarkable run, eliminating former champions and Top 5 seeds on a fairytale path to the final against Britain’s Emma Raducanu.
But things have not gone well for him this year, in which he has faced several injuries, so he had to withdraw from the French Open, then he was left out of Wimbledon.
But this Monday Fernández seemed to have recovered his overwhelming performance from the US Open 2021 when at the Louis Armstrong Stadium he showed a solid game against Dodin. The Canadian took a 3-0 lead as the Frenchwoman struggled to find her best.
Then Dodin would settle down a bit as the set went on, but apart from some lethal setbacks, made too many mistakes ( unforced errors, five double faults) in contrast to Fernández placed 12 winning shots.
The second set was very similar. A double fault from Dodin gave Fernandez an early break, and the former junior World No.1 maintained that consistency to earn a bye to the second round and her 10th win of the year on hard court.
“I got goosebumps coming back to this court tonight. I felt the love here tonight. I was a bit tired waiting all day, but the cheers from the crowd kept me going until the end”, Fernandez said after the match.
In total, Fernandez finished the match with 26 winning shots against nine unforced errors. The 5-foot-6 left-hander recorded 10 amazing aces, most varied and well placed.