Leylah Fernandez of Canada rallied to upset No. 13 Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Championship in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.
With her loss in the two-hour, 52-minute match, Samsonova dropped to 0-5 in three-set matches in 2026.
Samsonova and Fernandez played a tough first set, punctuated by 11 deuce points spread over three games. It wasn’t until the 11th game of the set, with Fernandez serving at 5-5, that Samsonova was able to forge ahead with a break to take the lead, then serve for the win.
The second set was nearly a carbon copy with another late break. Samsonova was serving down 6-5 to stay in the set, but Fernandez broke serve to take the set.
In the third, Samsonova fell behind by two break points at 5-0 before Fernandez forged ahead for the win in the WTA 1000 event.
The only other seeded player in action Sunday was Czech Linda Noskova, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 winner over Ann Li. Noskova withstood 13 aces from the American, also helped by winning points on 73% of her first serves.
Surviving another three-set match was Magda Linette of Poland, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner over Lulu Su of New Zealand.
With the top two women’s players in the world, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Iga Swiatek of Poland, pulling out of the Dubai tournament, Elena Rybakina of Ukraine is the top seed. She had a bye to the second round, and she will meet Kimberly Birrell of Australia, who topped Tatjana Maria of Germany. 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Also advancing to the second round were Janice Tjen of Indonesia, American Peyton Stearns, Elise Mertens of Belgium, Czech Barbora Krejcikova, Ella Seidel of Germany and Russia’s Diana Shnaider.
A trio of Americans — No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova, No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 4 Jessica Pegula — all have a first-round bye and will make their tournament debuts in the second round on either Monday or Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
