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Canadian Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up, was playing
only her third singles match since returning from a foot injury
she suffered at the French Open.
The 19-year-old lefthander, who lost to fellow teenager Emma
Raducanu in last year's Flushing Meadows final, led 3-0 in the
first set and 5-1 in the second but could not press home her
advantage, allowing world number 27 Alexandrova to rally and
take the match in straight sets.
Unseeded American Amanda Anisimova improved her head-to-head
record against ninth seed Daria Kasatkina to 3-0 with a 6-4 6-4
win over the Russian.
The 20-year-old Wimbledon quarter-finalist peppered the court
with 33 winners to five from Kasatkina, who fell to a second
straight loss since winning in San Jose.
Cincinnati-born Caty McNally also secured victory, overcoming
leg cramps to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 3-6 7-6(2).
McNally grabbed at her left leg in pain after her first serve on
match point and it briefly looked like she might not be able to
finish.
However, she played through the pain and collapsed on her back
after securing victory, with Belarusian Sasnovich then walking
around the net to McNally's side to embrace her.
"At the end it was just a little bit of relief of fighting
through that," McNally, ranked 179th in the world, told
reporters after setting up a second-round clash against twice
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
"There was definitely a lot of pain and some cramping going on,
so it was just such a mental battle.
"I was just so proud of myself fighting through that when I
think I could have just thrown in the towel there and blame it
on not having my legs with me."
Rybakina had a relatively comfortable outing against Egyptian
Mayar Sherif, winning 6-3 6-2, but both Kvitova and Victoria
Azarenka were forced to dig deep.
Kvitova saved a match point to beat last year's runner-up Jil
Teichmann 6-7(2) 7-6(6) 6-3 while two-time Australian Open
winner Azarenka defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-3 4-6 6-3.
Azarenka will next meet the winner of Tuesday's clash between
Raducanu and the retiring Serena Williams.
American Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open winner, did not
spend much time in the day's final match, taking down Alize
Cornet 6-1 6-0. She will next meet world number one Iga Swiatek.
The main draw of the U.S. Open starts on Aug. 29.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai and Rory Carroll in Los
Angeles, additional reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney;
Editing by Sam Holmes/Peter Rutherford)
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