Fernandez eliminated from Italian Open with first-round loss to Sasnovich

ROME — Canada’s Leylah Fernandez has been eliminated from the Italian Open tennis tournament after a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus in first-round action on Tuesday.

Fernandez, who entered the WTA 1000 clay-court tournament ranked 50th in the world, struggled with accuracy on serve. She committed eight double-faults to Sasnovich’s three and landed just 49 per cent of her first-serve attempts.

Both players lost serve five times, with Fernandez defending just four break points and Sasnovich defending seven.

Fernandez, from Laval, Que., fell to 11-10 in singles competition this year.