Canada's Leylah Fernandez swept out of Miami Open by unseeded Muchova
Canadians Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime scheduled for 1st matches on Friday
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.
WATCH | Fernandez falls to Muchova:
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.
Osaka cruises to 2nd win in a row
Two days, two wins and making it look easy.
Naomi Osaka sure seems like herself again.
The former world No. 1 is through to the third round at the Miami Open, easily handling 13th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday. It was every bit as one-sided as the score made it seem, with Osaka winning 89 per cent of first-serve points and 61 of the 100 points played in the match overall.
"It means a lot to me," said Osaka, unseeded in Miami after falling to No. 77 in the world because she's missed considerable time to focus on her mental health in recent years. "She's the first high-seeded player I've beaten this year."
That jumping backhand 1-2 punch đź’Ąđź’Ą<a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@naomiosaka</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MiamiOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MiamiOpen</a> <a href="https://t.co/BEngsi5izG">pic.twitter.com/BEngsi5izG</a>
—@WTAOsaka's win set the tone for a day where 11 seeded women were ousted from the tournament, a stunning series of results headlined by Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu defeating top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4. Begu had lost 17 of her last 18 matches against top-10 players entering Thursday.
Also gone: No. 3 seed Anett Kontaveit. She lost to Ann Li, a 21-year-old American who got her first win over a top-10 opponent — a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 triumph.
Kerber is ranked 15th in the world; the last time Osaka defeated a top-15 ranked player was when she topped then-No. 10 Serena Williams in the 2021 Australian Open semifinals. Osaka went on to win that tournament and hasn't been to a final since, but her win over Kerber — who had been 4-1 against Osaka entering Thursday — certainly made her look the part of a Miami contender.
"I went into the match just really wanting to play my game," said Osaka, who has yet to drop a set in her two matches in Miami; she beat Astra Sharma 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. "I still have the memories of all the matches she's beaten me before. So yeah, I just wanted to play as well as I could. It worked out."
Pliskova — in just her second match after missing about four months with a broken arm — lost 6-3, 6-3 to qualifier Anna Kalinskaya.
Olympic doubles gold medallist Katarina Siniakova of the Czech Republic needed just under three hours to beat Raducanu, the reigning U.S. Open champion, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Siniakova was nearly reduced to tears while getting worked on during a medical time-out in the first set because of an upper-body injury.
Halep withdraws
Meanwhile, Simona Halep withdrew from the Miami Open ahead of her second-round match on Thursday with a leg injury that the former world No. 1 said will keep her out of action for three weeks.
The 19th-ranked Romanian Halep, who reached the semifinals at Indian Wells last week and had a first-round bye in Miami, said she felt a sharp pain in her left leg while practicing for her match with Australian wild card Daria Saville.
"I had been struggling with the thigh since my semi-final in Indian Wells and hoped it would improve, but I went for an MRI last night and unfortunately it showed a tear," twice Grand Slam champion Halep wrote on Twitter.
"My body needs time to heal and as a result I will be out of competition for three weeks. This means I have had to make the super tough decision to pull out of Miami, Charleston and Fed Cup."
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
