logo
Davidovich Fokina beats Shelton to reach the DC Open final vs. de Minaur. Fernandez faces Kalinskaya

Davidovich Fokina beats Shelton to reach the DC Open final vs. de Minaur. Fernandez faces Kalinskaya

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alejandro Davidovich Fokina broke big-serving Ben Shelton a half-dozen times and eliminated the No. 4 seed by a 6-2, 7-5 score in the D.C. Open semifinals Saturday to follow up his upset of No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz a night earlier.
The 12th-seeded Davidovich Fokina, a 26-year-old from Spain, will face No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur on Sunday for the title at the hard-court tournament. De Minaur advanced to his second Washington final by beating Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-3.
Davidovich Fokina will be seeking his first ATP trophy in his fourth career final. No matter the outcome, he has guaranteed himself a debut in the top 20 of the rankings after arriving in D.C. at No. 26.
The semifinal win was de Minaur's 20th victory on a hard court in 2025, the most on the ATP tour. The Australian, who is 13th in the rankings, moved into his 19th career final; he's 9-9 so far. One of the runner-up finishes came against Alexander Zverev at Washington in 2018.
In the women's bracket, Leylah Fernandez will be trying to win her first WTA title of the season, and Anna Kalinskaya will seek the first of her career when they meet each other Sunday.
Fernandez,
the runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Open
, hit 12 aces and picked up her second victory of the week against a top-20 opponent by beating 2022 Wimbledon champion
Elena Rybakina
6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) across 3 hours, 16 minutes in the semifinals.
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 other women's semifinal. It was Raducanu who defeated Fernandez for the championship at Flushing Meadows four years ago.
Both women's finalists are unseeded. Canada's Fernandez, who is 22 years old, is ranked 36th; Russia's Kalinskaya, 26, is ranked 48th.
Kalinskaya moved into her third tour-level final. She went 0-2 in title matches last season.
Fernandez, who got past top-seeded Jessica Pegula earlier in the week, owns three titles. Sunday's matchup will be her seventh career final.
___
AP tennis:
https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Spanish rider Garcia becomes the oldest stage winner at women's Tour de France at age 41
Spanish rider Garcia becomes the oldest stage winner at women's Tour de France at age 41

San Francisco Chronicle​

timean hour ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Spanish rider Garcia becomes the oldest stage winner at women's Tour de France at age 41

QUIMPER, France (AP) — Mavi Garcia became the oldest rider to win a stage at the women's Tour de France on Sunday. The 41-year-old Spaniard clinched the second stage with a solo breakaway. She looked back twice before realizing she would not be caught and then raised her arms aloft at the finish line. Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten was 39 when she won a mountain stage on the 2022 women's Tour, organizers said. Garcia attacked with about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) left on the 110.4-kilometer hilly stage through Brittany and ending in Quimper. She looked like being caught near the end as the peloton loomed large behind her, but she kicked in and won by three seconds. 'I've been racing for a long time and I hadn't been having my best year, but this win really gives me a massive boost of energy,' Garcia said. 'I really didn't believe I was going to win at the end. I've tried many times like that and it never worked out, so I just couldn't believe it until I was five meters from the line.' Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes was second and Kim Le Court of Mauritius took third place in a sprint to the line. Le Court did just enough to take the race leader's yellow jersey from cycling great Marianne Vos, who won Saturday's opening stage in a close finish and placed fifth on Sunday. Le Court and Vos have the same overall time after two stages, but Le Court now leads overall courtesy of her better combined stage finishes over the first two days. Stage 3 on Monday is a flat stage for sprinters, ending in the western city of Angers. The nine-stage race ends on Aug. 3. Last year provided the smallest winning margin in the history of the women's and men's races, with Polish rider Kasia Niewiadoma beating 2023 champion Demi Vollering by four seconds, and Pauliena Rooijakkers only 10 seconds off the pace in third place. ___

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store