Leylah Fernandez’s marathon of an upset sends her to the DC Open final

Leylah Fernandez’s marathon of an upset sends her to the DC Open final

Three hours 12 minutes later, Leylah Fernandez, glistening with sweat from the marathon she had survived, could finally throw her arms in the air. She had been pushed to the brink and somehow returned from it. On another hot, sticky day at the DC Open, she was understandably exhausted.

In the second set Saturday at Rock Creek Tennis Center, No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina served with a chance to win. But by forcing her lone break point of the match, Fernandez launched a comeback that took her to a 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3) win and a spot in Sunday’s final.

In search of her fourth tour-level title, the 22-year-old Canadian will face Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Britain’s Emma Raducanu, 6-4, 6-3, later Saturday.

In the men’s draw, the highest-ranked player remaining, world No. 8 Ben Shelton, lost, 6-2, 7-5, to No. 26 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in an error-filled match that saw him bounced from the Washington semifinals for a second straight year.

Shelton is 0-3 against the fast-playing Spaniard, who took down two top Americans — he beat No. 4 Taylor Fritz in Friday’s quarterfinals — to advance to face No. 13 Alex de Minaur in Sunday’s final.

De Minaur defeated lucky loser Corentin Moutet, 6-4, 6-3, in the first semifinal and has a chance to make up for his loss to Alexander Zverev in the 2018 final. The top-seeded, all-Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori will face Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France and Hugo Nys of Monaco, the No. 3 seeds, in Sunday’s doubles final.

Shelton’s issues Saturday began with his best weapon: his serve. The American hit just 55 percent of his first serves, far below his norm, and nearly every other part of his game struggled as a result. He lost the first set in 27 minutes and finished with 35 unforced errors.

Ben Shelton fell in the semifinals again.

Fernandez’s Saturday wasn’t nearly as straightforward.

Sunday will bring Fernandez’s seventh WTA tour-level final. All but one have come on a hard court — including the 2021 U.S. Open, where she fell to Raducanu. Fernandez’s run to the DC Open final came via wins against No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula, Taylor Townsend and Kazakhstan’s Rybakina. This is the first time that Fernandez, ranked 36th, has beaten two opponents in the top 15 in the same tournament since that U.S. Open run.

Getting here was far from easy. After defeating Townsend in straight sets, Fernandez said she was unsure how she could make it through a third if it came in such difficult conditions. She was faced with that question Saturday, when the heat index exceeded 100 again.

“I’d like to think that maybe in the third set I would have found a way,” she said Friday. “I would have maybe played it ugly, so find a way to get through the finish line.”

On Saturday, she found a way.

Fernandez said she told herself before the match that she “went through the worst yesterday.” She felt more prepared this time, drinking more water and taking in more electrolytes and carbohydrates before the match.

“If I was going to get rolled out in a stretcher today, then so be it,” she said. “But I was just going to give it my all.”

Sunday will bring yet another test. The heat index could reach 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Fernandez is seeking a fourth WTA title.

Staging the DC Open in late July or early August puts it in one of Washington’s hottest times of the year. Many players like that aspect of the event because it lets them prepare for the weather at the U.S. Open a few weeks later. Shelton said he went home to Florida after Wimbledon to acclimate himself. How did he do it? By going in a sauna or sitting in a hot tub up to his neck for 15 minutes at a time.

On Friday, after she finished a lengthy singles quarterfinal and a few hours before she would retire partway through a doubles semifinal (citing a headache), Raducanu said she needed to see a doctor. These were some of the toughest conditions she had ever played in, she said.

At Wimbledon this summer, several fans required medical attention, and matches had more stoppages than usual because of record-high temperatures. But the London heat fell well shy of the D.C. experience, Raducanu said.

“Different level,” she said Thursday. “I think the humidity here as well, it just makes it feel completely like you have just opened an oven and it just stayed open and your head is in there.”

This will be Kalinskaya’s third tour-level final, but she has yet to win one. The 26-year-old has not lost a set this week while posting wins against two players seeded in the top eight (No. 4 Clara Tauson and No. 8 Magda Linette). Fernandez won the lone previous matchup between the finalists.

Anna Kalinskaya will seek her first title Sunday.

Townsend moving to No. 1

Townsend and Shuai Zhang won the women’s doubles title, 6-1, 6-1, over Sofia Kenin and Caroline Dolehide, letting Townsend achieve her goal of becoming the world’s No. 1 doubles player. (That will become official Monday.) With the win secured, Zhang ran to the stands to grab Townsend’s son, AJ.

As tournament emcee Andrew Krasny told the crowd, Townsend is the first mother to reach the No. 1 ranking. On the court, the 4-year-old AJ grabbed the mic, told his mom she played great all week and called himself a “big dog.” His mom cried.