Canada's Auger-Aliassime, Fernandez into second round at Cincinnati Open

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada is through to the next round at the Cincinnati Open. (Graham Hughes, The Canadian Press)

After disappointing showings at their national championships, Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez rebounded with first-round wins Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament.

Montreal's Auger-Aliassime cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic.

Fernandez, form Laval, Que., was down a set and behind an early break before rebounding to beat China's Yuan Yue 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Both players stumbled in singles competition at last week's National Bank Open tournaments in Montreal and Toronto after returning to North America from the Paris Olympics.

Auger-Aliassime lost 6-3, 6-2 to Italy's Flavio Cobolli in the first round of the Montreal tournament. Fernandez made it to the second round in Toronto before being defeated 6-4, 6-2 by American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger.

That followed an eventful Paris Olympics for both players, particularly Auger-Aliassime. The 24-year-old won mixed-doubles bronze with Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski while also advancing to the bronze-medal match of the men's singles competition before losing a tough three-set match to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti.

Fernandez advanced to the third round of the women's singles tournament in Paris.

On Wednesday, Auger-Aliassime picked up his fifth break of Kovacevic to go up 5-1 in the second set then served out for the win by converting his first match point.

Auger-Aliassime will next face Norway's Casper Ruud in the second round of the tournament, which is a Masters event on the ATP Tour and a WTA 1000 event on the women's tour.

The two last faced each other in the men's singles quarterfinals at the Olympics, with Auger-Aliassime winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

Fernandez came back with a solid third set against Yuan in which she converted 14-of-21 first-serve points, including two aces, and scored a pair of breaks.

She will next face fourth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. It will be the first meeting between the players.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 14, 2024