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Independent Singapore
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Independent Singapore
'The match was very solid from my part' — Leylah Fernandez secures fourth WTA Grand Slam title in Washington
Photo: WASHINGTON, D.C.: Canadian athlete Leylah Fernandez elevated her tennis career by winning this year's WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open title in Washington, D.C., making it her fourth career WTA singles trophy. Ranked world No. 36, Fernandez defeated No. 48 Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the hard-court final. In a span of only 1 hour and 9 minutes, the athlete became the first Canadian woman to achieve the Washington title. With her win, Fernandez said in her post-match press conference: 'The match was very solid from my part… I was very happy the way that I held my nerves. I was definitely very nervous in the beginning, but I got to play my game in the important points and kind of push through those nerves, so I was super happy about that.' Highlights of the match Leylah faced a break point at 1-1 in the first set, but with her capabilities and skills, she managed to hold her serve. The Canadian took control of the rest of the set as Kalinskaya lost her serve due to a double fault. Leylah won the opening game with a winning drop shot after just 30 minutes. Fernandez continued her strong play in the second set and eventually went on to win the match. She had four out of six break points during the match and never lost her own serve. Fernandez's athletic performance Leylah Fernandez reached the US Open final in 2021, but since then, she has not won any major tournament for quite some time. Her last win was in Hong Kong in October 2023, and the last time she reached a final was over a year ago when she eventually lost to Daria Kasatkina on the grass courts at the WTA 500 in Eastbourne. However, Fernandez prepared for her games in Washington and was ready to clinch the title. She played more than nine hours to get to the final, including a 3-hour and 12-minute match, which she won against Elena Rybakina in the semifinals. Fernandez admitted: 'I have gone through so many different challenges this know, I think it just has made me stronger in a way that if I can get through this week, through the cramps, through the long matches, through the heat, the humidity, I can get through anything.' 'So I was just very happy that I got to not only push myself physically through the limits but also mentally. So that kind of will help me hopefully for future tournaments,' she added. On social media, netizens expressed their support for the Canadian tennis star. One netizen stated: 'Well yes! Leylah Annie Fernandez, the new queen of D.C. is Canadian. It sounds very correct. ❤️' Another netizen remarked: 'She really played her heart out. Good for you queen!' One more netizen said: 'What a great week of Tennis. So resilient !! Congrats !! 😎✌️' () => { const trigger = if ('IntersectionObserver' in window && trigger) { const observer = new IntersectionObserver((entries, observer) => { => { if ( { lazyLoader(); // You should define lazyLoader() elsewhere or inline here // Run once } }); }, { rootMargin: '800px', threshold: 0.1 }); } else { // Fallback setTimeout(lazyLoader, 3000); } });
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Times
Venus Williams wins in singles return as Osaka lines up Raducanu match
Venus Williams made a triumphant return to singles tennis on Tuesday after a 16-month hiatus, defeating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the WTA and ATP DC Open. The 45-year-old winner of seven career Grand Slam singles titles rolled to her 819th career WTA singles victory in 97 minutes at the first US Open hardcourt tuneup event. "It is not easy to come off after all that time and play the perfect match," she said. "Peyton played so well. I felt like I was trying to slow myself down from going faster and faster and faster." Williams had not played a WTA singles match since March of last year at Miami and had not won a match in 709 days — since defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the first round at Cincinnati in August 2023. "I wanted to play a good match and win the match," Williams said. "It's so rewarding to come back after a layoff and injuries." Williams became the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Japan's Kimiko Date at 46 in Tokyo in 2017. She became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova at age 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. "Thank you so much for the energy," Williams told the crowd. "We were literally living and dying together." Williams broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set, winning nine of 10 points in one stretch, then held to 5-3 and pushed Stearns in a 12-minute ninth game but missed on four match points before Stearns held. Williams smashed a service winner on her sixth match point for the triumph, booking a second-round date with Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I'm back here because of the encouragement of my team and they wanted me to come on back and play again so a lot of this is for you guys," Williams told spectators. "You guys don't know how much work goes into this. It's nine to five but you're running the whole time, lifting weights and then you're like dying — and then you repeat it the next day." Japan's Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5, to book a second-round match against Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner, who eliminated Ukraine's seventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. "I'm excited about it," Osaka said. "I've never played her before, so for me, that's something really cool too. Because I've seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, moments like that, and I knew she was a good player." "I'm looking forward to the match," Raducanu said. "It will be a great test of my own game and myself." Norrie beats Musetti Britain's Cameron Norrie rallied to defeat world number seven Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Norrie, seeking his sixth ATP title, captured his first victory over a top-10 player in 2 1/2 years. "I made it very difficult for him," Norrie said. "My backhand was coming through the court low. My forehand was jumping. I'm just enjoying my tennis a lot more these days." Norrie, whose most recent title was in February 2023 at Rio, snapped a 14-match losing streak against top-10 foes. Wimbledon quarterfinalist Norrie next faces US 14th seed Brandon Nakashima.
