Janice Tjen Stuns Leylah Fernandez in Australian Open First Round

Janice Tjen’s rise to becoming the No. 1 women’s player in Indonesia has included one WTA singles title and three doubles championships. The 23-year-old reached No. 53 in the WTA singles rankings in November and her coaches predicted then the best was yet to come. Tjen demonstrated that improvement with a first-round upset of Canada’s Leylah Fernandez on Tuesday at the Australian Open. Fernandez, of Laval, Que., was seeded 22nd in the major tournament, but was bounced 6-2, 7-6 (1) in one hour 43 minutes. Tjen finished with four aces, 17 winners, six double faults and 27 unforced errors. Fernandez had two aces, 16 winners, five double faults and 28 unforced errors. Fernandez won two of eight break points and two of 10 return games, while Tjen took four of seven break points and won four of 10 return games. Tjen advances to play the winner of a match between Karolina Pliskova of Czechia and American qualifier Sloane Stephens. Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov eased into the Australian Open second round after beating wild card Bu Yunchaokete of China 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-1 in his opening match at the grand slam tennis tournament Monday. Shapovalov, the 21st seed, hit 19 aces and converted 3-of-8 break point chances without being broken to win the match in two hours 15 minutes. The 26-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., also struck 47 winners to just 11 for Bu. He’ll play Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the next round. Shapovalov is the only Canadian remaining in men’s singles after seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal retired from his first-round match against Portugal’s Nuno Borges. Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., lost in their opening-round matches. Earlier Monday, Canadian breakout star Victoria Mboko needed only 72 minutes to defeat Emerson Jones of Australia 6-4, 6-1 in the women’s singles first round. Mboko, 19, won 77 per cent of her first serve points and 59 per cent of her points on second serve. She will play American Caty McNally in the second round.