Leylah Fernandez rallied from a set down to defeat Katerina Siniakova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and win the Hong Kong Open for her first title in 19 months.
It is the third title of the 21-year-old Canadian’s career and first since winning at Monterrey in March 2022. After the win, she will move back inside the top 50 in the rankings next week.
“We had a very, very hard past couple of years,” Fernandez said. “My family, my parents, my coach and my performance coach stayed by my side.
“They motivated me to keep going, and the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, we can keep going this way.”
It was a nervy start by Fernandez as No. 85-ranked Siniakova earned two breaks to claim the opening set.
Fernandez, ranked 60th, responded by building a 4-0 lead in the second before the Czech player took an off-court medical timeout and returned with her left upper leg taped.
The break appeared to help Siniakova as she worked her way back to 3-4, but Fernandez saved six break points in a 10-deuce game to hold and then took the set in her next service game.
After exchanging breaks through the deciding set, Fernandez made the decisive break to lead 5-4 and then held her nerve to serve out the win in 2 hours, 49 minutes.
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