Leylah Fernandez from Canada added her 3 career WTA 250 titles in Washington with an emphatic victory over Anna Kalinskaya in the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open final, which sweep the Russian aside in straight sets in just 69 minutes.
I have experienced so many different challenges this week. You know, I think it has made me stronger in a certain way, that if I can endure the cramps this week, through the long games, through the heat, the humidity, I can get through anything. So I was just very happy that I could not only physically push myself through the limits, but also mentally. So that will hopefully help me for future tournaments. Leylah Fernandez
All her titles came to hard courts, the surface on which she also reached the US Open final in 2021, and finished as the second place of Emma Raducanu in Great Britain.
The world no. 36 sent Kalinskaya, 6-1 6-2, and, as a result of her DC-Run, a dozen places to no. 24 on Monday after securing her 4th career title.
“The game was very solid on my part,” Fernandez said in her press after the game, the first Canadian woman to lifted Washington’s trophy. “I was very happy with the way I held my nerves. In the beginning I was absolutely very nervous, but I had to play my game in the important points and, a bit, pushing through those nerves, so I was super happy with that.”
From the beginning, Fernandez was everywhere in Kalinskaya, pressed the baseline and ran down almost every ball, but with the end in sight, at 4-1 in the second set, the Canadian was visibly tightened and lost the first 2 points on her serve.
Fernandez controlled her nerves and changed gear to achieve 4 straight points, the last 2 on an ace and a non-returable serve.
In the opener, Fernandez had stared a breaking point to 1-1, but she escaped with a guard and could not be stopped for the rest of the set.
Kalinskaya dropped her serve with a double mistakes in the next game, and Fernandez ran away with 5 games in a row to seal the lead of one set, a winning drop shot through the Canadian that closes it in just 30 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second, when Fernandez took the victory, 4 of 6 breaking points in the match converted and never dropped her serve.
Washington champion Leylah Fernandez poses alongside second Anna Kalinskaya during the trophy presentation ceremony on Sunday
© Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
The US Open finalist of 2021 had a small drought in the title and hoisted her most recent trophy from champion in Hong Kong in October 2023, while her last final had been on the grass of WTA 500 Eastbourne just over a year ago, when she finished the second place of Daria Kasatkina.
The Canadian fought for more than 9 hours on the field in Washington, just to go to the final, including a marathon victory of 3 hours and 12 minutes on Elena Rybakina in the semi -final.
Kalinskaya, on the other hand, had not dropped a set on the way to her 3rd career WTA-Singles final, including against Raducanu in the last 4, but she had and really on Sunday.
“I experienced so many different challenges this week,” said 22-year-old Fernandez later. “You know, I think it has made me stronger in a certain way, that if I can endure the cramps this week, through the long games, through the heat, the humidity, I can get through anything.
“So I was just very happy that I could not only physically push myself through the limits, but also mentally. So that will hopefully help me for future tournaments.”
The oppressive heat and humidity on the hard courts of Washington seemed to fit her game and, combined with her tenacity, made a force to take into account, as the top-ranked Jessica Pegula discovered in the 2nd round, a victory that Fernandez supported with a great victory over Rybakina, the Final bakina, in Final in the Final Bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in Final in the Final Bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in-bakina, in Final. Semi-finals, in a match that ran and 12 minutes.
Fernandez takes almost $ 200,000 away and those valuable ranking points, but more importantly, also a growing confidence on the way to the US Open, where she made it to the final 4 years ago.
Raducanu, who won that final, spoke about the difficulty that followed the breakthrough, with all the pressure and expectations, and Fernandez acknowledges that she too struggled with the same.
“They were mainly my own expectations,” Fernandez told Wtatatnis.com an hour after winning. “I played some great tennis in New York-a lot of my balls went in. At one point, after 2011, I let my guard down a bit. To be honest, my coach [and father Jorge] Had warned me about it and at the time I was just too naive to believe him.
“To say:” No, I have to keep working, I have to keep earning my place. It will not be easy on this, “so, after open open, it was difficult to fight that. And it is still difficult, because we are still connected to that result until we both do another good result.”
Then she plays this week’s WTA 1000 in Montreal, probably on Tuesday, against Maya Joint for the 2nd time in 2 weeks, but she will think about her amazing performance in Washington.
“It’s a long, long few years ago with many ups and downs,” she said. “Getting this title is great, not only for trust and self -confidence, but also for the entire team and family.
“We have experienced many difficult moments in recent years. This trophy simply indicates how much they have fought. And it shows me, if they can fight because of their difficulties, I can do it in a small tennis competition with a tennis ball that comes back to me. That is the goal and the mentality.”
Washington Doubles -Champions Taylor Townsend & Zhang Shuai defeated Caroline Dolehide & Sofia Kenin in the 48 minutes Doubles final on Sunday
America’s Taylor Townsend achieved the WTA Doubles World No 1 ranking on Friday with her semi-final victory on the Mubadala Citi DC open, but she didn’t stop there.
In the final of Saturday, Townsend and Zhang Shuai from China, the no. 2 seeds, ended their week with a stunning 6-1 6-1 victory over the non-sown American pair of Caroline Dolehide & Sofia Kenin to take the title in just 48 minutes.
It is Townsend’s milestone 10th career WTA title, while Zhang, a former World No 2 in Doubles, is a maximum of 15 career WTA titles.
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