The biggest tennis title of Leylah Fernandez’s career arrived on Sunday at the DC Open with the help of a terrific backhand, some superb returning — and energy courtesy of Shake Shack’s burgers and fries.
The left-handed Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who is ranked 36th in the world, wrapped up a big week of tight matches with a lopsided victory, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
Fernandez earned her fourth singles trophy — all have come at hard-court tournaments — and her first at a WTA 500 event. She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.
Photo: EPA
There was almost a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The men’s singles trophy was won by No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur, who earned his 10th ATP title — the eighth on hard courts — by saving three championship points in a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) victory over No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
De Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian, was the runner-up in Washington in 2018.
Davidovich Fokina dropped to 0-4 for his career in finals, despite leading 5-2 in the third set and repeatedly standing just a single point from victory. It was his second time frittering away multiple match points in a tournament final this year. He entered the week at No. 26 in the world and made his debut in the top 20 yesterday, but he remains the highest-ranked man without a title.
Fernandez took quite a journey through the women’s singles.
She needed 2 hours, 19 minutes to oust No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula — last year’s US Open runner-up — in three sets in the second round, then 2 hours, 20 minutes to beat Taylor Townsend in the quarter-finals, and 3 hours, 12 minutes for a three-tiebreaker victory over No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina — the 2022 Wimbledon champion — in the semi-finals.
After each of the last two matches, Fernandez and her father — who is also her coach — opted for Shake Shack.
“We got burgers, hot dog, cheese fries — everything that an athlete should not eat before a match, but it did the trick,” Fernandez said about what she ate after the Townsend match. “It gave me the right nutrients to recover from the cramps and get ready for the next round.”
Following the Rybakina marathon, Fernandez said she and her father “were messaging, and I was like: ‘OK, what do you want to eat tonight?’ We both answered at the same time: burgers... That was kind of my diet for the whole week.”
Sure worked: This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open.
Plus, she arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and had not won more than two matches at the same tournament since November last year.
“I have gone through so many different challenges this week. 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,” Fernandez said. “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.”
Against the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya, who had not dropped a set until Sunday, Fernandez saved the only break point she faced while breaking four times.
Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points when Kalinskaya hit a second serve, while Kalinskaya — a 26-year-old Russian who is 0-3 in WTA Tour finals — finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners.
“Amazing fight this week,” Kalinskaya told Fernandez. “You truly deserve it.”
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