DC Open: Leylah Fernandez battled all the way back to pull off a gruelling, three-tiebreak victory and reach her first final in over a year, beating No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 7-6(3) in a 3-hour and 12-minute contest at Washington Open.
Rybakina had not lost serve through 7-6(2), 5-4, where she served for the match. Naturally, Fernandez had her exactly where she wanted her. Staring down a match game at 5-4 in the second set, Fernandez's cracking returns helped the Canadian earn her first service break of the day when she needed it most.
Once the third set hit, Fernandez was the sturdier player in rallies down the stretch. Bolstered by her never-say-die attitude, these returns and rally groundstrokes could lead Fernandez to her fourth career title, and her first since 2023 Hong Kong. All of her three career WTA singles titles have come on hard court, WTA reports.
