Latest news with #Leylah Fernandez
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fernandez takes charge in Washington for top career win
Leylah Fernandez has collected the biggest title of her career at the DC Open with her most lopsided victory of the tournament, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1 6-2 in the final. 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. Leylah's winning moment 🫶#MubadalaCitiDCOpen — Mubadala Citi DC Open (@mubadalacitidc) July 27, 2025 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.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Globe and Mail
Canada's Leylah Fernandez wins DC Open with 6-1, 6-2 victory over Anna Kalinskaya
Leylah Fernandez collected the biggest title of her career at the DC Open with her most lopsided victory of the tournament, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final on Sunday. 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 quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 U.S. 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 the semifinals Saturday. 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 break point 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. Another: Kalinskaya finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners. This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open. She dedicated this victory to her mother, her older sister and her fitness trainer. 'Thank you so much for never giving up on me — and don't give up on yourselves,' Fernandez said. 'This trophy is for you guys.' 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 U.S. 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. 'Amazing fight this week,' Kalinskaya told Fernandez after the title match. 'You truly deserve it.' 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.
National Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- National Post
Fernandez dominates Kalinskaya to win DC Open
WASHINGTON — Canada's Leylah Fernandez produced a dominant performance to defeat Russia's Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets and win the WTA Tour's DC Open in Washington on Sunday. Article content The 22-year-old bagged the first WTA 500 victory of her career and her first title since 2023 to win 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour. Article content Article content The win completed a fairytale week for Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist who had beaten top seed Jessica Pegula and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on her way to the fourth title of her career. Article content Fernandez got off to a blistering start, dominating Kalinskaya's serve to take the opening set in just 30 minutes. Article content After three holds left Fernandez 2-1 up, the breakthrough came in the fourth game with Kalinskaya's serve looking increasingly vulnerable. Article content The Russian was soon in trouble at 15-40 down, and then double-faulted to hand Fernandez the break and a 3-1 lead. Article content Fernandez was having no such difficulty on serve and held comfortably for a 4-1 lead before going on to attack Kalinskaya's serve in the sixth game. Article content The Canadian held two break points at 15-40 and duly converted the second for a 5-1 lead, lasering a backhand return to leave Kalinskaya rooted to the spot. Article content The second set mirrored the first, with Fernandez grabbing an early break to seize the initiative at 2-1 before breaking again soon afterwards for a 4-1 lead. Article content
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Leylah Fernandez's resolve is rewarded with the DC Open title
Leylah Fernandez proved her resolve three times over on the way to the DC Open final — in two grueling matches against top-15 players and one against her former doubles partner and good friend, Taylor Townsend. Each of them stretched past two hours in the energy-sapping Washington heat and humidity, with the 5-foot-6 Canadian overcoming players more physically imposing.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kalinskaya to face Fernandez in DC Open women's final
Anna Kalinskaya prevented a rematch of the 2021 US Open final by ousting Britain's Emma Raducanu to book a berth against Canada's Leylah Fernandez in Sunday's DC Open final. The 26-year-old Russian, seeking her first WTA title, downed Raducani 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday's Washington hard court semi-finals to reach her third career tour final. It denied what would have been the first meeting between Raducanu and Fernandez since they met as teen phenomenons four years ago in the final at Flushing Meadows, Raducanu taking a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Left-hander Fernandez rallied to defeat third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) after three hours and 12 minutes to book her spot in Sunday's championship match. Fernandez won her only meeting with Kalinskaya, taking a first-round victory in 2021 at Guadalajara. World number 36 Fernandez seeks her fourth career WTA title and first since the 2023 Hong Kong Open. Raducanu, ranked 46th, has not reached a WTA final since her Grand Slam breakthrough in New York. Fernandez reached her seventh career WTA final and first since June 2024 at Eastbourne. Kalinskaya reached her only tour finals last year at Dubai and Berlin. World number 12 Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon winner, and Fernandez each surrendered only one break in their marathon match. Rybakina fired winners on the final four points of the first tie-break, the last a service winner, to claim the opening set after 53 minutes. In the second set, Rybakina broke on a backhand drop volley winner to take the opening game and took a 3-1 lead. Fernandez fought back from 0-40 down to hold in the fifth game then broke Rybakina in the 10th when she was serving for the match to pull level at 5-5. In the second tie-breaker, Fernandez seized a 5-0 lead and forced a third set on a Rybakina double fault. Both held into a third tie-breaker, in which Fernandez seized a 4-0 lead and ended matters when Rybakina swatted a forehand beyond the baseline. Rybakina, the WTA season ace leader, fired 17 aces, two off her career high, and seven double faults but had 64 unforced errors and 44 winners. Fernandez had 12 aces against three double faults and took 66% of her second serve points. - Kalinskaya rolls - In the other semi, Raducanu sent a backhand long to surrender the first break of the match in the ninth game of the first set. Kalinskaya fought off two break points in the 10th game and held on an overhead smash to claim the set in 53 minutes. World number 39 Kalinskaya fired a backhand cross-court winner to break Raducanu in the opening game of the second set but the Briton responded by breaking back at love to 1-1. Kalinskaya broke again for a 3-2 edge when Raducanu sent a backhand beyond the baseline, then saved a break point in the eighth game and held to end the match when Raducanu netted a forehand after 94 minutes. The later men's semi-finals send French lucky loser Corentin Moutet against Australian seventh seed Alex De Minaur and Spanish 12th seed Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina against US fourth seed Ben Shelton. js/rcw
