Leylah Fernandez beats Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 to win the DC Open for her biggest title
Until Sunday, the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya had not dropped a set all week. However, she wasn't able to keep up with Fernandez, who saved the only two break points she faced while taking four of Kalinskaya's service games in a match that lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. One key: Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points in the match when Kalinskaya hit a second serve. This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open. She arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and hadn't won more than two matches at the same tournament since last November. With a mix of baseline excellence and strong net play, Fernandez eliminated top-seeded Jessica Pegula–the US Open runner-up last year–and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina–the Wimbledon champion in 2022–on the way to the final. The win against Rybakina in Saturday's semifinals took three tiebreakers and more than three hours to decide. There was no such drama against Kalinskaya, a 26-year-old Russian who fell to 0-3 in tour-level finals. She lost to Jasmine Paolini in Dubai and to Pegula in Berlin last year.
The men's final scheduled for later Sunday was No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur against No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Ben Shelton in the semifinals.
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