MANILA, Philippines — Leylah Fernandez had a winning start to her campaign at Indian Wells, cruising to the Round of 32 at the expense of Alize Cornet, 6-2, 6-3, on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
Her first competition since the US Open Final, Fernandez showed no rust in her second round match up against the French tennister.
Canada's Fernandez, of Filipino and Ecuadorian descent, received a bye in the first round as the 23-seed in the tiff and thus moved directly to the Round of 64.
The 19-year-old forges a Round of 32 matchup against Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who defeated USA's Madison Keys, 6-3, 6-1, also on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Pavlyuchenkova is the ninth seed of the tournament.
Meanwhile, US Open open champ Emma Raducanu, who defeated Fernandez in the Final at the Flushing Meadows in New York, suffered a second round exit against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-2, 6-4.
Raducanu was seeded 17th in the tournament.
In the US Open, Raducanu became the first-ever qualifier to win a grand slam and didn't lose a single set in all her matches.