Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., won her third career WTA title on Sunday when she beat Katerina Siniakova in the Hong Kong Open final.
Hailing from Laval, Quebec, Leylah Fernandez emerged victorious in the Hong Kong Open by defeating Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic with a final score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, securing her third career WTA championship title.
Leylah Fernandez rallied from a set down to defeat Katerina Siniakova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and win the Hong Kong Open for her first tennis title in 19 months.
It is the third title of the 21-year-old Canadian’s career and first since winning at Monterrey in March 2022. After the win, she will also move back inside the top 50 in the rankings next week.
“We had a very, very hard past couple of years,” Fernandez said. “My family, my parents, my coach, and my performance coach stayed by my side.”
“They motivated me to keep going and the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, we can keep going this way.”
It was a nervy start by Fernandez and No. 85-ranked Siniakova earned two breaks to claim the opening set.
Fernandez, the Laval, Que. native who’s ranked 60th, responded by building a 4-0 lead in the second before the Czech player took an off-court medical timeout and returned with her left upper leg taped.
The break appeared to help Siniakova as she worked her way back to 3-4 but Fernandez saved six break points in a 10-deuce game to hold and then took the set in her next service game.
After exchanging breaks through the deciding set, Fernandez made the decisive break to lead 5-4 and then held her nerve to serve out the win in two hours 49 minutes.
‘Special’ win in Seoul
Jessica Pegula beat Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Korea Open in Seoul for the fourth title of her career.
The top-seeded Pegula dropped only one set through the tournament and becomes the first American since Venus Williams in 2007 to win the title in Seoul.
“My mom is Korean and she was adopted from here so it’s really special to be able to win here,” Pegula said. “In the last few years, as my ranking has gone up, I’ve definitely felt so much more support from the fans, a lot more than I expected coming back here from five years ago. So it’s really special.”
Playing in her first career final, 128th-ranked Yuan showed no signs of nerves and earned a break point in Pegula’s opening service game, which the American saved with a forehand winner.
The world No. 4-ranked player then won eight consecutive games to take the first set and build a 3-0 lead in the second as a quick victory looked likely.
Yuan then rallied to get back to 4-3 but Pegula’s power from the baseline propelled her to her first title since Montreal earlier this year and her first outside of North America.
WTA Finals next for Dabrowski?
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand cruised to the women’s doubles title with a straight-set victory over the Japanese duo of Shuko Aoyama and Eno Shibahara at the Zhengzhou Open.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, who claimed the U.S. Open doubles title last month, dropped just 10 points on serve and saved five of six break points while breaking four times in a 6-2, 6-4 win at the WTA 500 event.
Since partnering in August, Dabrowski and Routliffe, who was born in Auckland but grew up in Ontario and previously represented Canada, have reached three finals, winning twice, and have moved into a qualifying place for the WTA Finals with just one more week of tournaments remaining to qualify.
The duo can clinch their spot at the WTA Finals this coming week in Nanchang.
Dabrowski has now won 15 WTA Tour doubles titles in her career, while Routliffe has won five.
Diallo wins Slovak Open
Gabriel Diallo continued the Canadian success with a title of his own on Sunday, winning his second career ATP Challenger event at the Slovak Open in Bratislava.
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The 22-year-old Montreal native beat Belgium’s Joris De Loore 6-0, 7-5, at NTC Arena.
Diallo, who stands six feet eight inches tall, also delivered the biggest upset of the tournament with a three-set victory over top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in the Round of 16.
Diallo won his maiden title on home soil in August 2022 at the Championnats de Granby in Granby, Que. He was part of Canada’s Davis Cup team in 2022 and 2023.
