Leylah Fernandez lost already in her first match at the 2024 Italian Open in Rome to an inspired Ana Bogdan.
The Canadian, ranked 34th in the world, just missed out on the seeding spot at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, which would mean that she would get to skip her first-round match and start in the second round.
That didn't happen, and she had to play in the first round of the competition only days after her mural was revealed in Montreal. Her first-round opponent was the world no. 63 Bogdan.
The Romanian started the match better, getting an early break and leading 2-0. But the 2021 US Open runner-up was able to break back and quickly make it 2-2 in the opening set.
Yet, she immediately lost her serve again, and this time around, she wasn't able to get the break back, which meant that Fernandez lost the first set 4-6 and had a lot of work ahead if she wanted to come back.
However, in the second set, she immediately lost her serve, and after that, she lost it once more and was down 1-4 with two-break deficit. The Canadian player go three chances to recover one of the breaks in the sixth game, but she didn't do that.
On top of that, she lost her serve again in the following game, and since those break points were also match points, she didn't get a chance to go for a comeback, as Bogdan won the match 6-4, 6-1.
While Fernandez will now turn her focus to the French Open, Bogdan will prepare for her second-round match at the event, which will be against the sixth-seeded Marketa Vondrousova. Should she win, there is a chance that she may take fellow compatriot Sorana Cirstea in the third round in Rome.
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