Canadian Leylah Fernandez was eliminated from the Miami Open Thursday, falling in straight sets to the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova.
Muchova beat Fernandez 6-4, 7-6 (3) and will face former No. 1 player in the world Naomi Osaka of Japan in the next round of the tournament.
Fernandez entered the Miami Open as the tournament's No. 18 seed and got a first-round bye while Muchova had to beat her countrymate Tereza Martincova to reach the round of 64.
Muchova outplayed Fernandez, particularly playing well on her first serve, winning 71.2 per cent of the points off her opener, compared to just the 58.8 per cent of points that Fernandez won on her first serve.
The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., has had a strong start to 2022, including a victory in Monterrey, Mexico, but this was her worst showing since she was eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open.
Male Canadian tennis stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are scheduled to begin their Miami Open tournaments Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2022.
