WASHINGTON — Canada’s Leylah Fernandez opened her title defence with a first-round victory at the D.C. Open on Monday.

Fernandez, the tournament’s seventh seed, downed Poland’s Magda Linette 6-1, 6-4, winning the match in one hour 19 minutes.

The 23-year-old from Laval, Que., captured the title at the WTA 500 hard-court event last year for the biggest tournament win of her career.

“There’s definitely some nerves, a little bit of pressure, because you’re a defending champ,” she said after defeating Linette. “You can’t really escape that word ‘defending champ’ because it’s kind of everywhere. You see your name in the stadium beside (2025 ATP winner) Alex de Minaur, so it’s like you can’t escape it.”

Fernandez ranks 34th in the world but has struggled to find a rhythm this year, posting a 13-19 record in singles.

On Monday, she hit two aces and converted five of nine break-point opportunities. Linette, meanwhile, capitalized on just one of three.

“It’s tough when the beginning of the season doesn’t go the way that you want it to go,” Fernandez said ahead of the tournament. “But I try to kind of take it day by day and enjoy the process, the hard work, the hours on court, trying to find the positives in things.

“I definitely think back on those memories, on those feelings, the positive feelings, the fight, the energy that the crowd brought. So I try to use that to my advantage and try to go back into that state, and hopefully I can reproduce that here.”

Fernandez will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and Zheng Qinwen in the round of 16.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.