Leylah Fernandez was a single game away from defeat in Saturday’s Mubadala Citi DC Open semifinals, but she battled all the way back to pull off a grueling, three-tiebreak victory and reach her first final in over a year.
On another toasty day in the American capital city of Washington, D.C., Canada’s Fernandez overcame No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 7-6(3) in a 3-hour and 12-minute marathon.
Rybakina did not lose serve through 7-6(2), 5-4, where she served for the match. But the 2022 Wimbledon champion never reached match point, as Fernandez’s cracking returns helped the Canadian earn her first service break of the day when she needed it most. Fernandez then eased through the second-set tiebreak to level the match.
The third set also had no breaks of serve, but Fernandez was the sturdier player in rallies down the stretch. This year’s ace leader Rybakina was able to power her way into one last tiebreak, but in the decisive breaker, it was the Fernandez groundstroke game which came out on top.
World No. 36 Fernandez is now into her first final since she finished runner-up to Daria Kasatkina on the grass courts of Eastbourne last June. Fernandez is seeking her first title since 2023 Hong Kong. All of her three career WTA singles titles have come on hard court.
Fernandez now awaits the winner of the semifinal to follow, between Anna Kalinskaya and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
Remarkably, Sunday’s final could be the first rematch of the extremely notable, all-unseeded 2021 US Open final. Both teenagers at the time, Raducanu defeated Fernandez in that US Open final to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
More to come…