Quebecer Leylah Annie Fernandez lacked opportunism in return of serve, losing 6-4, 3-6 and 6-2 to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova on Sunday in the first round of the Adelaide tournament.
Fernandez (31st) had 19 break points, winning the point only five times. His own serve was broken seven times in 13 attempts.
Alexandrova (28th) will now face American Emma Navarro (eighth), second seed and holder of a first-round bye.
In the first set, Fernandez lost three consecutive serves. However, she gave herself two break points to try to return to equal service in the 10th game, but Alexandrova resisted.
The Laval resident was more incisive in the second set, breaking her opponent three times in eight attempts to force a final set.
Fernandez missed three more break chances in the first game of the final set before suffering the break in the sixth game. It was the second of four consecutive games won by Alexandrova to end the duel in two hours 14 minutes.
Fernandez defeated Briton Jodie Burrage (179th) and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (79th) in qualifying to advance to the main draw.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov (56e) for his part defeated the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (45e) 6-3 and 6-4 in 68 minutes.
Shapovalov was initially scheduled to face Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime, but the latter ultimately obtained a bye as fifth seed.
In the second round, he will face the winner of a duel between Australian Aleksandar Vukic (68e) and the American Marcos Giron (46e).
Canada
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