Leylah Fernandez in action during the Women's Singles championship match at the 2021 US Open, Saturday, Sep. 11, 2021 in Flushing, NY. (Darren Carroll/USTA)
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez eased to a 6-2, 6-3 win over France’s Alize Cornet in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night.
Fernandez hadn’t played since falling to Emma Raducanu at the USOpen last month.
The 19-year-old raced to 5-0 lead against Cornet in the first set, converting five of nine break points.
Fernandez, who got a first-round bye, will next face No. 9 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.
Earlier, Poland’s Iga Swiatek took 71 minutes to see off Petra Martic 6-1 6-3.
Swiatek won nine of the first 10 games before she was broken twice. She then rallied to win the next six games and close out the match.
No.4 seed Elina Svitolina beat Tereza Martineova 6-2 7-5 and ninth-seeded Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Madison Keys 6-3 6-1.
No.11 seed Simona Halep beat Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 while Victoria Azarenka advanced via walkover when Magda Linette quit trailing 7-5, 3-0.
American Shelby Rogers had an easy victory over Kristina Kucova 6-2 6-2.
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