WASHINGTON – Leylah Fernandez's career-biggest tennis champion took advantage of a remarkable backhand on Sunday, with some great return and energy provided by Shake Shack's burgers and fries.
Left-handed Fernandez is a 22-year-old from Canada who ranked 36th and won a tough game in the final, beating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
Fernandez won her fourth singles trophy – all in the Hard-Court Championship – first with the WTA 500 event. She was close to the Grand Slam title as a teenager at the 2021 U.S. Open and had been to the finals in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.
Washington almost had a rematch, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals on Saturday.
Leylah Fernandez's path to DC's open championship includes victory over top seed Jessica Pegula and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina. Oliver/shutterstock
The men's trophy was won by seventh-placed Alex de Minaur, who won the tenth ATP title in a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (3) defeat of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina – eighth on the hard court.
Fernandez took a journey.
It took her 2 hours, 19 minutes to drive out last year's U.S. Open runner-up, playing three sets in the second round. Then it took her 2 hours, 20 minutes to beat Taylor Townsend in the quarterfinals, three hours and 12 minutes, and beat three games in the semifinals with the third seed of 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
After each of the last two, Fernandez and her father, who were also her coach, chose Shake Shack.
“We got burgers, hot dogs, cheese fries – everything athletes shouldn't eat before the game, but that's the trick,” Fernandez said of what's after Townsend. “This gives me the right nutrients to recover from cramps and prepare for the next round.”
After the Rebakina Marathon, Fernandez said she and her father were “to send a message, and I was like, ‘Well, what do you want to eat tonight?’ We both answered at the same time: burger…it’s my diet all week.”
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Confirm the job: This is the first champion of Fernandez at the Hong Kong Open in October 2023.
Plus, she came to Washington with a record of failure this season, winning no more than two games in the same game since November last year.
“I've had a lot of different challenges this week. It makes me a little stronger in a way, and if I can go through the time of this week – by cramps, by long races, by heat, by humidity, by everything,” Fernandez said. “So, I'm so happy that I'm not only going to do my physical effort on the limits, but also by mentally pushing myself. So this hopefully helps me in future competitions.”
In the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya, he didn't give up a set until Sunday, with Fernandez saving the only breakout point she encountered during four breakouts.
One key: When Kalinskaya scored a second serve, Fernandez scored 10 points in 12 points. Another: Kalinskaya is a 26-year-old Russian who ended 24 unmandatory mistakes with only nine winners in the Tour final with a 0-3 record.
“The amazing battle this week,” Kalinskaya told Fernandez. “You really deserve it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.