WASHINGTON — Leylah Fernandez collected the biggest title of her career at the D.C. 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 was almost a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals on 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 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 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.
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.
Fernandez is set to take the court again on Monday for a first-round matchup against Australia’s Maya Joint at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers. You can watch her try to continue her successful run on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
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Watch the National Bank Open on Sportsnet
The stars of tennis hit the courts in Toronto and Montreal for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers. Catch live coverage of both tournaments on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ beginning Sunday.
