Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez returns the ball to Poland's Iga ÅšwiÄ…tek during a match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Kamran Jebreili
DUBAI CITY, United Arab Emirates – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in second-round action Tuesday at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Fernandez, from Laval, Que., is still trying to get back into the form that propelled her to the 2021 U.S. Open final since recovering from a stress fracture in her foot that derailed the end of her 2022 campaign.
She has shown recent progress, with a run to the quarterfinals last week in Doha, Qatar, and a confident 6-4, 6-2 first-round win over Julia Grabher on Sunday.
But Swiatek proved to be too much of an obstacle on Tuesday. The Polish star fired five aces and broke Fernandez six times on seven chances in a match that lasted just an hour and 12 minutes.
Swiatek, who won her 12th career title last week in Doha, improved to 10-2 on the season.
Fernandez was next scheduled to team with Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States on Wednesday in a second-round doubles match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Xu Yifan of China.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2023.
