Leylah Fernandez lifts fifth career title with Japan Open win

Osaka, Oct 19 (IANS) Leylah Fernandez won her first Japan Open title on Sunday. The No. 4 seed defeated 18-year-old qualifier Tereza Valentova, who was making her WTA final debut, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 in 2 hours and 11 minutes.

The victory marked Fernandez’s fifth career title and her second of 2025. All five of her career titles have been won on hard courts.

Her run in Osaka, which included five consecutive wins, was only the second time since her victory in Washington, D.C., in July that she won back-to-back matches.

With the win, Fernandez climbed five spots to No. 22 in the WTA Live Rankings and reclaimed the Canadian No. 1 ranking from Victoria Mboko, WTA reports.

Fernandez started the match confidently, taking less than 30 minutes to race through the first set and bagel the young Czech. Valentova looked emotional during the changeover after falling behind 5-0, perhaps feeling the pressure of what was arguably the most significant moment of her career so far. However, she regrouped and played more freely in the second set, breaking Fernandez three times and finally securing the final game to force a decider.

In the third set, Fernandez’s previous experience proved crucial to the current match. Leading 2-1, she pounced on Valentova’s second serve on break point, unleashing a crosscourt backhand followed by a down-the-line backhand winner to secure the break for 3-1.

Valentova responded with another break to narrow the score to 4-3 and secured several additional break points during the third set, but Fernandez held firm for the rest of the match and ultimately sealed the win.

Meanwhile, Taylor Townsend and Kristina Mladenovic won the women's doubles trophy on Saturday, beating Stom Hunter and Desirae Krawczyk for their first title as a team.

For Townsend, a two-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 2, it is her 11th career WTA doubles title and her fourth of the season.

--IANS

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