Canada’s Fernandez cruises into 2nd round, Branstine falls to world No. 1 Sabalenka at Wimbledon
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Great Britain’s Hannah Klugman in her first-round match at Wimbledon on Monday.
Fernandez, the 29th seed, dominated with 23 winners to 10 for the 16-year-old Klugman, ranked 573rd in the world.
The 22-year-old from Laval, Que., also converted five of six break point opportunities to win the match in one hour nine minutes.
Fernandez has never advanced past the second round at London’s All England Club.
Earlier Monday, Carson Branstine saw her Grand Slam debut end with a first-round loss to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, falling 6-1, 7-5.
WATCH l Sabalenka ousts Branstine in 1st round:
Making her Wimbledon debut, dual Canadian-American Carson Branstine from Irvine, Calif., lost in the first round to Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 7-5.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (No. 25) was drawn against Australia’s James Duckworth, while Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo was scheduled to make his Wimbledon main-draw debut against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
Branstine, who was born in California but represents Canada through family ties in Toronto, fired seven aces and matched Sabalenka with 17 winners, but the Canadian committed 26 unforced errors and was unable to convert her lone breakpoint chance.
Still, Branstine found her rhythm in the second set, and Sabalenka took notice.
“In the first set, she didn’t serve great, but in the second, most of her serves were 120mph, which is crazy,” Sabalenka said. “I was lucky to break her in one game. Tough match, tough win.”
The 23-year-old Branstine, ranked 194th in the world, earned her spot through last week’s qualifying tournament at the All England Club.
Medvedev stunned by No. 64 Bonzi
Ninth-seeded Daniil Medvedev is out of another Grand Slam tournament in the first round after losing to 64th-ranked Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Monday.
The 2.01-metre (six-foot-six) Russian, a semifinalist at the All England Club the last two years, also exited the French Open in the first round. And that followed a second-round loss at the Australian Open to 19-year-old qualifier Learner Tien.
“For the moment, I’m not that worried,” said Medvedev, who is ranked No. 9. “If I finish the year somewhere around [No.] 15 in the world, maybe I will be more worried. For the moment, I am not.”
The last time Medvedev lost consecutive Grand Slam first-round matches was in 2017 — at Melbourne Park in his major tournament debut, followed by Roland-Garros.
Medvedev lost in five sets to Cameron Norrie in Paris this year. In 2023, the Russian was seeded No. 2 at Roland-Garros and lost in the first round to Thiago Seyboth Wild, a qualifier who was ranked 172nd at the time.
