Canada's Fernandez, Andreescu claim 1st-round victories at Madrid Open
Canadians each use 3 sets to move on at clay-court tournament
Canadians Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez advanced to the second round of the Madrid Open with three-set wins on Friday.
Andreescu, playing in her second tournament after a months-long absence, moved on with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win over American Alison Riske.
The 21-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., will next face sixth seed Danielle Collins of the United States. Collins advanced with a win over Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig.
Fernandez, of Laval, Que., was victorious in her Madrid main-draw debut with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win over German qualifier Andrea Petkovic.
WATCH | Fernandez upends Petkovic:
The 19-year-old Fernandez, ranked 20th in the world, will next face Switzerland's Jil Teichmann, who defeated three-time champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5.
Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, dominated the third set of her match with Riske. The Canadian won 62.1 per cent of service points and an impressive 73.7 per cent of return points in the set, while breaking Riske three times on six chances.
Andreescu entered the WTA 1000 series tournament with a world ranking of 111. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in October 2019 thanks to her breakout season that saw her win prestigious events in Toronto and Indian Wells, Calif., in addition to her first Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Prior to returning to action earlier this month at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, Andreescu hadn't played a match since a second-round loss to Anett Kontaveit at Indian Wells on Oct. 21.
WATCH | Andreescu dominates 3rd set to advance:
She announced in December she was taking a break from tennis to recover physically and mentally from a "challenging" two years.
Andreescu posted on Twitter that she was affected by "multiple weeks in isolation quarantining" after contracting COVID-19, and by her grandmother's stay for several weeks in a hospital's intensive care unit because of the coronavirus.
Fernandez, the runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Open, won 65.4 per cent of available points in the first set and didn't face break point. Petkovic returned the favour in the second, winning 72.7 per cent of points and breaking the Canadian twice in three chances.
Petkovic, a former world No. 9, led 2-0 in the third set before Fernandez rallied to win the first meeting between the players.
Teichmann defeated Fernandez in straight sets in their only previous meeting, which came at a Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie in 2020.
Osaka rolls into 2nd round
Meanwhile, being more positive is paying off for former No. 1 Naomi Osaka.
Osaka kicked off her clay campaign with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over qualifier Anastasia Potapova in the first round.
"I'm honestly trying to be more positive with myself," the 36th-ranked Osaka said. "This year I came a week early to train on red clay, so just trying to give myself more chances to do better. ... To be able to do it in two sets, for me, it's a really good starting block."
The four-time Grand Slam champion withdrew from the French Open last year and took a break from competition after saying she "suffered long bouts of depression" and experienced "huge waves of anxiety" before speaking to the media. She was brought to tears this year at Indian Wells by a comment from a spectator.
One time for the fit, one time for the match. <a href="https://t.co/6lC2nwb1qq">pic.twitter.com/6lC2nwb1qq</a>
—@naomiosakaShe said ahead of the Madrid Open she was focused on not being too hard on herself.
"Today, for me, it was really fun, just being able to be back on the clay and kind of not taking those moments for granted," she said.
Seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza, one of the home-crowd favourites in the Spanish capital, defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-2.
In a match between 19-year-olds, wild card Marta Kostyuk beat Clara Tauson 6-3, 6-2.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday because of a sore arm.
The men's first round begins next week, headlined by Rafael Nadal and top-ranked Novak Djokovic.
With files from The Associated Press
