Fernández conquers the DC Open: Title with a Shake Shack flavor and grit

Leylah Fernandez Conquers the DC Open with a Commanding Victory

Tennis player Leylah Fernandez won the most important title of her career at the DC Open, demonstrating impressive play and unwavering determination. Fernandez, a 22-year-old left-hander currently ranked 36th in the world, sealed a week of intense matches with a dominant victory over Anna Kalinskaya in the final, with a score of 6-1 and 6-2. This triumph represents the fourth individual title for Fernandez, all obtained in hard court tournaments, and the first in a WTA 500 event. The young Canadian promise was very close to winning a Grand Slam championship at the US Open in 2021, reaching the final before falling to Emma Raducanu.

Leylah Fernandez celebra su victoria en el DC Open. — El camino de Leylah Fernandez hacia el título del DC Open incluyó victorias sobre la cabeza de serie Jessica Pegula y la número 3 Elena Rybakina.

The men’s tournament saw Alex de Minaur, seventh seed, crowned champion, adding his tenth ATP title and the eighth on hard courts. Fernandez had a difficult path in the women’s category.

In the second round, she needed 2 hours and 19 minutes to defeat Jessica Pegula, the top seed and runner-up of last year’s US Open.
In the quarterfinals, she defeated Taylor Townsend in 2 hours and 20 minutes.
In the semifinals, after a three-tiebreak match, she defeated Elena Rybakina, Wimbledon 2022 champion, in 3 hours and 12 minutes.

After his last two matches, Fernandez and his father, who is also his coach, opted for a curious recovery strategy.

We ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese fries, everything an athlete shouldn’t eat before a game, but it worked. It gave me the right nutrients to recover from cramps and prepare for the next round.
Leylah Fernandez

This unusual strategy proved to be effective, as it was Fernandez’s first title since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open. Fernandez arrived in Washington with a losing record for the season and without having won more than two matches in the same tournament since last November.

I’ve been through so many different challenges this week. It’s made me stronger, somehow, that if I can get through this week, through the cramps, the long matches, the heat and humidity, I can get through anything. I am very happy to have been able to not only push myself physically to the limit, but also mentally. That will help me, I hope, in future tournaments.
Leylah Fernandez

In the match against Kalinskaya, who was ranked 48th and hadn’t lost a set until the final, Fernandez saved the only break point she faced and achieved four breaks. A key aspect was that Fernandez won 10 of the 12 points when Kalinskaya connected a second serve. In addition, Kalinskaya, a 26-year-old Russian tennis player who has a 0-3 record in tournament finals, committed 24 unforced errors and only managed 9 winners.