Washington-Leylah Fernandez will try to win her first WTA title of the season, and Anna Kalinskaya will look for the first of her career when they meet in the final of the Hard-Court DC Open.
Fernandez, the second place in the 2021 US OPEN, hit 12 Azen and grabbed her second victory of the week against a top 20 opponent by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) in the semifinals for 3 hours.
Kalinskaya needed less than half as much time to eliminate Emma Raducanu 6-4, 6-3 with the help of 14 backhand winners in the semi-final of the other women. It was Raducanu who beat Fernandez four years ago for the championship in Flushing Meadows.
Both finalists are not seeded. Canada’s Fernandez, who is 22 years old, is in 36th place; The Russian Kalinskaya, 26, is in 48th place.
Kalinskaya went to her third final at tour level. She went 0-2 in title matches last season.
Fernandez, who passed Jessica Pegula past Jessica Pegula earlier this week, has three titles. Sunday’s matchup will be her seventh career final.
No. 7 Seed Alex de Minaur went to his second final in Washington by beating Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-3. The Minaur will be confronted with no. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated no. 4 Ben Shelton with 6-2, 7-5 in the other semi-final.
The semi -final victory was the 20th victory of the Minaur on a hard court in 2025, the most on the ATP tour. The Australian, who is 13th in the ranking, moved to his 19th career final; He is 9-9 so far. One of the number two came in 2018 against Alexander Zverev in Washington.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
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