Leylah Fernandez fell behind 5-0 in the opening set of her Singapore Tennis Open semifinal Saturday. Two sets later, she was headed to her first WTA singles final of the season.
The sixth-seeded Canadian beat fifth-seeded Maja Chwalińska of Poland 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, recovering from a first set in which she struggled to hold serve against an opponent who kept changing the pace. Fernandez sealed the victory with a backhand winner after 2 hours, 8 minutes.
“I was a little shocked, and then also I got a little too frustrated,” Fernandez said in her on-court interview. She credited the crowd with helping her reset for the second set.
Chwalińska won the first five games, including a stretch of 15 consecutive points. Fernandez answered by winning the first eight points of the second set. Chwalińska broke back to draw level at 3-3, but Fernandez took the set 6-4 and saved an early break point in the third before pulling away.
Moving forward helped Fernandez change the match. She approached the net 37 times and won 22 of those points, according to the WTA. She finished with 31 winners to Chwalińska’s 15, though she also made more unforced errors, 43 to 28.
The 24-year-old’s route to the final included straight-set wins over Kyoka Okamura and Alycia Parks, followed by a 6-2, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over top seed Mirra Andreeva. The win over Parks reversed the result of their first-round meeting at this year’s French Open.
Fernandez will face Australia’s Talia Gibson in Sunday’s final, their first meeting. Gibson advanced by walkover after Tatiana Prozorova withdrew because of a concussion. It will be Fernandez’s ninth WTA singles final and Gibson’s first. Fernandez has won five tour-level singles titles.
