Gauff, the world’s third racket, needed an hour and 16 minutes to eliminate Fernandez, ranked 29th in the world, in two sets of 6-4, 6-2. She thus signed an eighth consecutive victory at the start of the 2025 season.
If the first round was fiercely contested, it was in the second set that the American demonstrated her superiority. She broke Fernandez in her first two service games to take a 3-0 lead, conceding no points to the Canadian in her second serve.
Fernandez managed to break Gauff in turn to reduce the gap to 3-1, but the American once again broke the Quebecer’s serve in the next game to regain a 4-1 lead. Gauff managed to make his victory a little later by winning all the exchanges in the last game.
Gauff had five aces during the duel, compared to one for Fernandez. She won 89% of the points on her first serve, compared to only 53% for her opponent.
This victory allowed Gauff to maintain her perfect record at the start of the 2025 season. She has not even lost a round during this sequence. This is the third year in a row that she has started the season with at least eight consecutive victories.
She notably beat Fernandez in two sets of 6-3, 6-2 at the United Cup, when the United States defeated Canada in the preliminary round. This was the only other professional meeting between the two players.
In the next round, Gauff will cross swords with the Swiss Belinda Bencic, who took advantage of Naomi Osaka’s retirement to reach the round of 16.
-Dabrowski and Routliffe continue their journey
Earlier on Friday, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealander Erin Routliffe won their second round doubles match.
They defeated the pair composed of the Czech Anna Siskova and the British Maia Lumsden in three sets of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Dabrowski and Routliffe are the second seeds in the competition.
The long-time partners slammed two aces and committed four double faults on serve during this clash. They won an impressive total of 78% of the points on their second serve.
In the first round, Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated the Americans Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk in three sets of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
