Leylah Annie Fernandez prepares to return a serve at the Australian Open. She is one of five Canadians competing in the main draw in 2025.

Photo : Martin Sidorjak

Main draw action kicked off on Sunday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the second 1000 tournament in as many weeks on the WTA Tour.

After reaching the third round in Doha last week, Leylah Annie Fernandez returned to the court, falling 6-2, 6-2 to Elise Mertens of Belgium in the opening round. The 22-year-old from Laval was broken four times in the match and face a total of 13 break points in 8 service games. Meanwhile, Mertens won 70 percent of serve points she played.

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Fernandez also lost in doubles alongside partner Nadiia Kichenok. They were defeated 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 by Peyton Stearns and Lulu Sun. Gabriela Dabrowski now carries the Canadian flag in Dubai. She and Erin Routliffe will be looking to rebound following a second round defeat in Doha. They are the second seeds in the draw.

In 2024, Fernandez was beaten by eventual Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini in the second round and in 2023, she fell to eventual finalist Iga Swiatek.

Branstine Reaches First WTA Final

It was a week to remember for Canadian Carson Branstine who contested her maiden final on Saturday night at the Cancun Tennis Open, a 125 event in Mexico.

The 24-year-old had to qualify to get into the main draw and once she did, she reeled off a string of impressive victories over Ena Shibahara, Lauren Davis, Katarzyna Kawa, and Maya Joint before falling to Emiliana Arango in the championship match. Unfortunately, she fell ill following her semi-final win and couldn’t put her best foot forward in the final.

Despite coming up just short in her title bid, Branstine’s performance in Cancun will allow her to achieve a career-high WTA ranking of no. 207 on Monday.

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