Straight sets, no fuss
Leylah Fernandez beat Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to open her US Open. The Canadian broke early in both sets, gave Zhang five games in total, and was off court well inside the day session.
Zhang has built a long career on absorbing pace and redirecting it. Fernandez did not give her the rhythm to do it, taking the ball early off both wings and going after the second serve from the first return game.
Two Canadians went through on day one. Denis Shapovalov came from a set down in the men’s draw to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in four.
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Five years since the run
Flushing Meadows made Fernandez. In 2021 she arrived unseeded, 18 years old and ranked outside the top 70, and beat Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka on the way to the final. Emma Raducanu beat her 6-4, 6-3 for the title.
Nothing since has matched it. The season has given her something to work with, though. Earlier this month in Toronto she knocked out Mirra Andreeva before Osaka ended the run in the quarter-finals, on home soil, in front of a crowd that wanted the other result.
What comes next
The women’s draw belongs to Aryna Sabalenka on paper. The Belarusian is the No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion, and starts on Monday against Camila Osorio. Three straight titles in New York would put her alongside Serena Williams, who won three in a row from 2012 to 2014.
Fernandez sits in a quarter that will not clear until Tuesday, September 1, when the last of the first-round matches are played. Round two guarantees her $190,000 from a record $108 million purse.
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