Fernandez takes charge in Washington for top career win
The left-handed Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who is ranked 36th, earned her fourth singles trophy - all have come at hard-court tournaments - and first at a WTA 500 event.
She came close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.
There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in Saturday's semi-finals.
The 48th-ranked Kalinskaya had not dropped a set all week until Sunday's final.
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.
It was Fernandez's first title since winning in at the Hong Kong Open in October 2023.
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, Wimbledon champion in 2022, on the way to the final.
The win against Rybakina in Saturday's semi-finals 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.
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It was a superb win for the Australian against the former world No.1 and 2021 US Open and Canadian Open champion in the lead-up to the year's final major on the hard courts at Flushing Meadows in New York. Popyrin, who stretched his unbeaten run in Canada to eight matches, was delighted to win, but thought he should have done it more easily. "I felt like I should have won that first set,'' said the Australian, who raced to an early 4-2 lead. "I was in the driver's seat. I felt like I was really comfortable out there, and then something happened. "I kind of let go and I started feeling my shots a little bit. When that happens, when you play a fast pace against him, he starts feeling the ball a little bit more.'' However, Popyrin's serve held him in good stead as he saved nine of 11 break points in the match. "It just shows that when I hit my spots I feel like I can hold, no matter what the score is,'' he said. Popyrin's victory set up a fourth-round clash with fifth seed Holger Rune on Saturday after the Dane advanced by beating Frenchman Alexandre Muller. On the same day, Alex de Minaur will take on Christopher O'Connell in an all-Australian third-round encounter. Earlier on Thursday, top-seeded German Alexander Zverev beat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 to reach 500 ATP match victories. The 28-year-old Zverev - the 2017 champion - is the first ATP Tour player born in 1990 or later to win 500 matches. He won on clay in Munich in April for his 24th tour title. "I think I started playing better from the baseline. The longer the match went on, I started to find my rhythm a bit," Zverev said. "It was actually my backhand that was feeling a bit off in the beginning, which is strange, doesn't happen very often. "But after I found that shot, I was comfortable and I was happy about the level." Ranked third in the world, Zverev ended up the top seed in Toronto, with No.1 Jannik Sinner and No.2 Carlos Alcaraz skipping the hard-court event. Zverev advanced to face No.14 seed Francisco Cerundolo, a 6-3 6-4 winner over fellow Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Earlier, Alex Michelsen upset third-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to set up a clash with fellow American Learner Tien, a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 winner over countryman Reilly Opelka. Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway topped Portugal's Nuno Borges 7-5 6-4 to set up a match with 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov. - with AP Australia's Alexei Popyrin has won the battle of former champions to advance to the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Defending champ Popyrin, the 18th seed in Toronto, fought back to beat 10th-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev 5-7 6-4 6-4 on Thursday (local time). It was a superb win for the Australian against the former world No.1 and 2021 US Open and Canadian Open champion in the lead-up to the year's final major on the hard courts at Flushing Meadows in New York. Popyrin, who stretched his unbeaten run in Canada to eight matches, was delighted to win, but thought he should have done it more easily. "I felt like I should have won that first set,'' said the Australian, who raced to an early 4-2 lead. "I was in the driver's seat. I felt like I was really comfortable out there, and then something happened. "I kind of let go and I started feeling my shots a little bit. When that happens, when you play a fast pace against him, he starts feeling the ball a little bit more.'' However, Popyrin's serve held him in good stead as he saved nine of 11 break points in the match. "It just shows that when I hit my spots I feel like I can hold, no matter what the score is,'' he said. Popyrin's victory set up a fourth-round clash with fifth seed Holger Rune on Saturday after the Dane advanced by beating Frenchman Alexandre Muller. On the same day, Alex de Minaur will take on Christopher O'Connell in an all-Australian third-round encounter. Earlier on Thursday, top-seeded German Alexander Zverev beat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 to reach 500 ATP match victories. The 28-year-old Zverev - the 2017 champion - is the first ATP Tour player born in 1990 or later to win 500 matches. He won on clay in Munich in April for his 24th tour title. "I think I started playing better from the baseline. The longer the match went on, I started to find my rhythm a bit," Zverev said. "It was actually my backhand that was feeling a bit off in the beginning, which is strange, doesn't happen very often. "But after I found that shot, I was comfortable and I was happy about the level." Ranked third in the world, Zverev ended up the top seed in Toronto, with No.1 Jannik Sinner and No.2 Carlos Alcaraz skipping the hard-court event. Zverev advanced to face No.14 seed Francisco Cerundolo, a 6-3 6-4 winner over fellow Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Earlier, Alex Michelsen upset third-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to set up a clash with fellow American Learner Tien, a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 winner over countryman Reilly Opelka. Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway topped Portugal's Nuno Borges 7-5 6-4 to set up a match with 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov. - with AP
