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Leylah Fernandez’s the story at the Hong Kong Open. The Canadian reached the final of the WTA 250 event on Saturday after getting past the fifth-seeded Anna Blinkova, 6-2, 7-5 in an hour and 18 minutes. Fernandez’s been having a great run in the maiden edition of the tournament in the Asian swing.
Against Blinkova, too, she continued with what’s been her usual mode of activity. She hit eight aces and won 69% of her first-serve points. Blinkova won 69% of her first-serve points, too. But the key differentiator in the match was in the second-serve points won.
The Canadian lost only four of 14 points played on her second serve. She also won 15 of 17 points on return on Blinkova’s second serve. The former runner-up at the US Open did fail to save the only break point she faced.
However, she made good of four break points on her opponent’s serve to see herself through. Fernandez had 66 points for the match, 20 more than her rival’s. Of these, 29 came in the form of winners.
Hong Kong Open: Leylah Fernandez to cap off a momentous week with one last triumph?
Meanwhile, in the second semi-final, Katerina Siniakova ousted the other remaining seed in the draw, Italian sixth seed Martina Trevisan.
The Czech needed 93 minutes to score a 6-4, 6-2 win. Siniakova and Trevisan combined to generate 22 break points. The Czech faced four of these and failed to save all but one. Trevisan saved 12 break points. Siniakova won 64% of her first-serve points and 47% of her second-serve points.
Trevisan won 54% of her first-serve points and only 31% of her second-serve points. The Hong Kong Open’s the ninth time Katerina Siniakova’s made it to a WTA title-round. It’s also the second time she’s made it this far this season.
Earlier, in June, she won the title in Bad Homburg. For Leylah Fernandez, this is her first-ever WTA finale in a year-and-a-half. The last time she’d reached this far was in 2022, in March.