Leylah Fernandez won her first WTA title in 18 months after beating Katerina Siniakova in the 2023 Hong Kong Open final.
After playing in the biggest final of her career at the 2021 US Open, the Canadian struggled with her tennis for some time, but it seems that she finally found her best level at the WTA 250 tournament in Hong Kong.
After besting teenage talent Mirra Andreeva, and also overcoming a challenge from another teenager, Linda Fruhvirtova, and beating also Anna Blinkova, Fernandez set up a final clash with Katerina Siniakova.
The Czech player best the likes of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Martina Trevisan on her way to the final, and she wanted to challenge also the Canadian, despite seemingly not being 100% fit.
The match started better for Siniakova, who had five break points in the opening set, while allowing her opponent to have only one. The Czech player used her chances twice, winning the first set 6-3.
But Fernandez was determined to fight back, and she did in the second set. The Canadian built a massive 4-0 lead after a superb start, but she lost one half of it, as Siniakova recovered one break and the scoreboard showed 4-3 for Fernandez.
After that, players battled in the longest game of the match, in which the Czech player had six break points, but it wasn't enough to break the Canadian, who held her serve to eventually win the second set 6-4.
Fernandez had a superb start into the third set too, breaking Siniakova, who required a medical time out in the opening game, but seemingly overcame the injury issue.
The Czech player battled, and her battle was almost worth a title, but eventually, Fernandez used her final chances to win the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and win her first title in 18 months.
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