WASHINGTON — Leylah Fernandez walked slowly toward her player box and triumphantly raised both arms in the air. Her dad and coach, Jorge Fernandez, promptly did the same celebration, quickly transitioning to a flex. The younger Fernandez mimicked with a flex of her own, before the two shared a warm embrace.
The 22-year-old from Canada and 36th-ranked player on the Women’s Tennis Association Tour considered taking a break from the sport after a disappointing second-round exit at Wimbledon. When she pondered taking a break, she and her father turned to a couple of former coaches, including Francisco Sanchez, who helped rejuvenate her ahead of the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
Evaluating the choice to step away or not, what Fernandez couldn’t ignore was her immense love for the sport and for competition. Those factors motivated her to play in Washington, a choice that has proved to be the right one.
On Sunday afternoon, after a roughly 50-minute weather delay because of thunderstorms, Fernandez captured the DC Open singles title in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, over Anna Kalinskaya (ranked 48th), of Russia, for her first career WTA 500 title. It is Fernandez’s fourth championship of her career — all on the hard courts — and first since the Prudential Hong Kong Open in October 2023. She moves up to 24th in the WTA rankings with the win.
“For me at that time, I was, like, ‘No, I can’t stop,'” Fernandez said. “Yeah, it’s tough to lose and going through that little rut, but I just want to keep competing, keep playing, and put on a good show for the fans. You know, one of these days, results are going to come in.
“I kept believing in it. But to happen so quickly, it feels very, very good. I’m very happy that I decided, that we both decided to keep going in this crazy adventure and to never give up. I think getting this trophy means a lot to not only myself but to everyone in my team and family.”
The left-hander introduced herself to the tennis community on the big stage with a surprising run to the 2021 U.S. Open final as a 19-year-old. Fernandez has been searching for similar success at a Grand Slam tournament since.
Throughout those trials and tribulations, Jorge Fernandez reinforced two key principles: “hard work and fight.” Fernandez reminded herself of those tenets each changeover, written in Sharpie on her water bottle.
Those qualities are exactly what it took to raise the trophy in the nation’s capital. Fernandez spent 10 hours, 20 minutes on the court in her five matches, the longest of any singles competitor. She grinded out multiple wins in long matches, including a 3-hour, 12-minute marathon in the semifinals on Saturday.
The young Canadian defeated two of the top-four seeds — world No. 4 and top seed Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16 and 12th-ranked and third-seeded Elana Rybakina in the semifinals — en route to the biggest title of her nascent career. On Sunday, Fernandez was dominant, dispatching Kalinskaya in just 69 minutes. She was efficient with a 71.8% first-serve rate, an extension of her strong serving performance throughout the tournament.
Holding the tournament’s gold trophy with an ear-to-ear smile, Fernandez was showered with streams of red, white and blue confetti, hoping to maintain momentum the remainder of the hard-court season, which continues in Montreal in her native Canada.
“This tournament in Washington is going to give me a lot of confidence coming in,” Fernandez said. “But then I also know that a lot of players are going to be, like, ‘OK, we’re going to have to keep an eye on her now.’ So, they’ll probably bring their best tennis. For me, start from zero, work hard to fight and to not take things for granted, because it’s going to be a dog fight in Montreal.”
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