“Yulia failed to overcome Leila Fernandez in the 1/64 finals, losing in two sets”, — write: sport.ua
In the 1st round, the Ukrainian lost to the 30th seed in two sets Leila Fernandez (Canada, WTA 31).
Australian Open 2025. 1/64 of the final
Yulia Starodubtseva (Ukraine) – Leila Fernandez (Canada) [30] – 5:7, 4:6
The girls took to the court at 02:00 in Kyiv, but due to rain, the game had to be interrupted in the first game with a score of 5:3 in favor of Leyla on her serve. The match resumed only at 09:15, Yulia managed to take her opponent’s serve and make it 5:5, but lost the next two games, and then the second set.
It is interesting that Leyla could close Julia one game earlier. In the 8th, Fernandez had two match points on her serve, but Yuliya made fantastic plays, breaking through twice, taking risks, but there was nothing left to lose. Unfortunately, the comeback never happened – Fernandez made a reverse break in the 9th game and ended the match.
Starodubtseva and Fernandez held a face-to-face confrontation for the first time. In the 2nd round, Leila will play either against Cristina Buksha (Spain, WTA 101) or against Chloë Paquet (France, WTA 123).
Julia performed at the Australian Open for the second time and for the fourth time at the Grand Slam tournaments. Her best major result is the second round of Wimbledon in 2024.
In 2025, Starodubtseva had two matches in which she suffered two defeats. Before the start on the Melbourne courts, the Ukrainian failed to continue the fight in the 1/16 finals of the WTA 250 in Auckland against Jacqueline Christian after losing the first set.
Five tennis players will continue to represent Ukraine at the Australian Open in singles: Marta Kostyuk, Elina Svitolina, Dayana Yastremska, Angelina Kalinina and Darya Snigur. Kostyuk was supposed to start its opening match on Sunday, January 12, but due to rain, the game had to be postponed to the next day.
