Petra Kvitova, Leylah Fernandez and Angelique Kerber dropped out of the Australian Open in the first round on Day 2.
For the second straight year, two-time Grand Slam champion and 2019 Australian Open runner-up Petra Kvitova loses to Romania’s Sorana Cirstea at Melbourne Park. This time, the 20th-seeded Czech lost her opener 6-2 6-2 in just 71 minutes in John Cain Arena, while last year the defeat happened in three sets in the second round.
The world No.38 Cirstea, who has risen almost 50 spots in the WTA rankings since the end of 2020, was never broken in her first-round victory and is one win away from leveling her head-to-head record with Petra Kvitova at 5-5.
The 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez fell to Australian wildcard Madison Inglis 6-4 6-2. The world No.133 Inglis made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the Australian Open in 2016, while today she recorded her first main-draw victory at a major and her first upset of a Top 50 player (Fernandez is positioned at a career-high of No.24).
The 19-year-old Fernandez made 30 unforced errors to just eight winners and converted none of her three break points to fall in the first round of the Aussie Open for the third time in a row.
The 2016 Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber was shown the exit door by Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi. The world No.115 Kanepi defeated the 16th seed 6-4 6-3. As the WTA Insider reports, among active players, Kanepi’s 14 wins vs. seeds in the opening two rounds of a Grand Slam is the second most after Sorana Cirstea’s 17.
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, Anett Kontaveit, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova all advanced to the second round on Tuesday.
