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Iga Swiatek has arrived in Montreal and will begin the hunt for her first Canadian Open title tomorrow when she faces Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.
This is just the second appearance for the World No. 1 at the National Bank Open. She played in the WTA 1000s event in 2019 for the first time, losing to Naomi Osaka in straight sets in the third round.
Swiatek and Tomljanovic will come face-to-face for only the second time. In their previous meeting at the 2019 Canadian Open, Swiatek was leading 4-1 in the first set when the 72nd-ranked player retired due to injury.
Canadian sensation Leylah Fernandez, who recently recovered from a grade three stress fracture in her right foot, has returned to action for the first time since her quarterfinal loss at the 2022 French Open against Italy's Martina Trevisan. Fernandez is competing in both singles as well as the doubles category along with her sister Bianca Jolie Fernandez.
In a hilarious incident before the pair's opening match yesterday, the Fernandez sisters fell asleep while sitting on a couch at the venue. Swiatek spotted them and capitalized on the opportunity as she posed for a photograph with the pair asleep. Leylah shared the photo on her Instagram stories, thanking the Pole. Swiatek reshared the image on her social media account.
Leylah advanced to the second round after beating Storm Sanders 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3 to set up a clash with Beatriz Haddad Mala. In their first-round doubles match, the Fernandez sisters defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo and Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-1 and will square off against Andreja Klepac and Alexa Guarachi tomorrow.
Also Checkout:- Leylah Fernandez mother
Iga Swiatek's season so far
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek has played 53 matches so far this year, winning a staggering 48 of those. The wins included a 37-match streak that was broken in the third round of Wimbledon by Alize Cornet of France as she beat the Pole 6-4, 6-2. With the streak, Swiatek set a new record, beating Venus Williams' 35 matches since the turn of the century.
The 21-year-old has already won six titles this season, including the Qatar Open, Indian Wells, the Miami Open, the Stuttgart Open, the Italian Open, and the French Open. It was the second Grand Slam title for Swiatek, her previous one coming at the 2021 French Open.
She missed quite a few tournaments after Wimbledon and only participated in the Poland Open before the National Bank Open. Things didn't go too well for her as she fell to Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 tournament.
