Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec has reached the final of the 2025 Citi Open in Washington, District of Columbia. On Saturday, Fernandez, who is unseeded in the tournament, upset the third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, in the semifinals. This match lasted three hours and 12 minutes.
Double faults were a key statistic in the match. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, had seven double faults, while Fernandez, the 2021 United States Open finalist, had three double faults.
This was the second time in three meetings that Fernandez beat Rybakina. Fernandez’s other win came in the second round of Cincinnati in 2024, which Fernandez won 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. Rybakina won the first meeting, which came in Qatar of last year by a score of 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Fernandez will next face Anna Kalinskaya of Russia on Sunday in the final. Kalinskaya is also unseeded in Washington. In the world rankings, Fernandez is ranked 36th and Kalinskaya is ranked 48th. Fernandez won their only prior meeting, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in the first round of Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2021.
In Fernandez’s career, she has won three WTA events. She beat Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-1, 6-4 in the final of Monterrey, Mexico in 2021, Camila Osorio of Colombia 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the final of Monterrey in 2022, and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of Hong Kong in 2023.
