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Take a quick look at our Leylah Fernandez Australian Open 2023 predictions here, complete with an overview of her chances.
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Leylah Fernandez Australian Open 2023 Odds
Can you remember when Leylah Fernandez became a household name in the tennis world? If not, let us cast your mind back to the 2021 US Open. In this event, while still just a teenager, she beat some of the world’s best to make the finals. Unfortunately, she came up against Emma Raducanu who was in the midst of a fairytale story. Yet although she lost the match, Fernandez showed the world what she can do on a tennis court.
And at the moment, she is ranked number 39 in the world. This is still pretty high, and it has to lead to the following outright odds for Fernandez to win the 2023 Australian Open:
For a previous Grand Slam finalist and a player ranked inside the top 40, you might be thinking that these odds seem low. To be honest, you’d be correct – they do seem low for a player of this ability. However, when you see that Leylah Fernandez has never won a main draw match at the Australian Open, things become a bit more understandable.
She was part of the main draw in all of the last 3 years and each time she suffered round 1 defeats. Strange for a player that broke onto the main stage in the similarly fast hard courts of the US Open.
Upcoming match vs Garcia – Leylah Fernandez Australian Open 2023
Leylah has never played against Garcia before so it is yet to be seen how these two promising talents will try to outsmart each other.
By defeating four top 5 players in the famous 2021 US Open on her way to the final Fernandez showed she can cause upsets when the odds are stacked against her. Her overall record against top 10 players confirms that: 13 wins and only 17 defeats. So Fernandez would certainly feel that if she is aggressive and executes her game plan well she stands a chance of causing an upset in this matchup.
Garcia regularly approaches the net in her matches, which could benefit Fernandez as she is regarded as one of the best passing-shot players on the tour. The Canadian will have to get her first serves in at a high percentage in order to stand a chance though. Her second serve is weak and vulnerable to attacks.
Leyla Fernandez’s Form Ahead Of 2023 Australian Open
Form obviously plays an important part in a player’s chances going into any tournament. Yet to keep things relevant, we’ve chosen to look back on the last five matches that Fernandez has played in. By reading through the list below, you’ll see that she is working on a 60% win rate for her last five games:
- Fernandez vs Bonaventure – lost – 4-6, 2-6
- Fernandez vs Grabher – won – 6-0, 6-1
- Fernandez vs Fruhvirtova – won – 6-1, 6-1
- Fernandez vs Bencic – lost – 0-6, 5-7
- Fernandez vs Trevisan – won – 6-0, 6-0
We should point out that the games against Trevisan and Bencic were back in November 2022. So really, the other three games carry greater weight regarding her form than these two. And focusing on the most recent three matches, those two wins in New Zealand led to a quarter-final appearance before Fernandez fell short against Bonaventure.
Fernandez Australian Open 2023 Results
Fernandez vs Cornet – Won – 7-5, 6-2 (2023 Australia Open 1st Round)
Fernandez overcame a tough opponent in round 1 when having to dig deep and work hard in set 1 against veteran Cornet. This was Fernandez’s first ever main draw in in Australia and she looked more and more impressive on the court as the match progressed.
The Canadian had a slight edge in a pretty even set 1. She showed good concentration too and despite missing a set point at 5:4 she still closed the set at the next opportunity. Winning the close opening set 7:5 was crucial for Fernandez’s confidence and she began to hit more winners in the next set.
Things stayed tight only until 2:2 and then Fernandez began to dominate with her heavy ground strokes to win 4 consecutive games and close the contest. Fernandez still had some issues in the match and she ended it amassing more unforced errors than winners, 29 to 25, but once she got going in the second set she reminded everyone of the form she displays back in 2021 on a route to the US Open final.
Leylah Fernandez Injury update: No Injuries Present
As you’d expect for a player who has only recently turned 20 years old, she is fighting fit ahead of Melbourne. This is obviously great news for those who are big fans of Leylah Fernandez, as well as for her and the team. And assuming nothing changes over the next few days, she should be 100% for the opening round at the Australian Open.
Really, since she isn’t competing this week, it’s likely that Fernandez is running through a simplified practice schedule. This is fairly typical for players when they are so close to a big tournament. Therefore, it’s highly unlikely that she will pick up any significant injury prior to the start of the event.
Leylah Fernandez Australian Open – Performances in the Past
In a similar style to some of the other young guns who are in the draw this year, Leylah Fernandez doesn’t have a long history at this event. In fact, it was just three years ago when she made her debut at the Australian Open. To clarify, this was back in 2020, and interestingly, this was the first Grand Slam main draw that she ever played in. Therefore, it wasn’t too surprising to see that Fernandez went out in the opening round.
But fast forward 12 months to 2021, and things were looking more promising for the young Canadian. She managed to win a couple of rounds at the 2020 French Open as well as a match at the US Open, showing her skill along the way. Yet she fell at the first hurdle once again in Melbourne. And finally, Fernandez was straight into the main draw once again just last year in 2022. She was actually seeded number 23 this time around, but she lost her opener to the Australian wildcard, Inglis in straight sets.
So as you can see, Fernandez hasn’t enjoyed much success at the Australian Open in years gone by. Then again, success has to start somewhere, right? And let’s not forget that Fernandez is just 20 years of age. So as she builds more experience and keeps climbing the rankings, there’s nothing stopping her from winning a few rounds this year.
Leylah Fernandez Australian Open 2023 Prediction – 2nd round
Because of the lack of seeding, this means that Fernandez doesn’t get to enjoy an easy round or two to make her way into the tournament. And based on her last three performances at this event, this is something she could really use. However, the draw is the draw, and there are no changing things at this point.
But because of the way that the draw is structured, it’s fairly clear that Fernandez faces a strong possibility of going out in the second round. She faces the 4th seed, Caroline Garcia in the second round. As a reminder, Garcia won the WTA Finals just a couple of months ago, so she really is one of the key players to beat at the moment.
So unfortunately for Leylah Fernandez, it looks like a second-round exit is on the cards.
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