Photo courtesy of WTA Tennis
SINGAPORE — Leylah Fernandez captured her first title of the season Sunday, defeating Australia’s Talia Gibson 7-5, 6-0 in the Singapore Tennis Open final for the sixth WTA singles championship of her career.
Fernandez, the Canadian of Filipino and Ecuadorian heritage, won the final nine games to complete the victory in one hour and 38 minutes at OCBC Arena. The championship was her second at the WTA 500 level, following her Washington title in 2025.
The 24-year-old entered Singapore as the No. 6 seed and ranked No. 31 in the world. She is projected to rise to No. 26 when the updated rankings are released Monday.
Gibson, appearing in her first WTA final, twice answered early service breaks by Fernandez in the opening set. The Australian earned a set point with Fernandez serving at 4-5, but Fernandez held for 5-5, broke Gibson in the following game and served out the set.
Fernandez then swept the second set without facing a break point. She won 82 percent of her first-serve points in the set.
Fernandez dropped only one set in five matches during the tournament.
She began with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Kyoka Okamura before defeating American Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
Fernandez then defeated top-seeded Mirra Andreeva 6-2, 7-5. Andreeva, the reigning Roland Garros champion, had beaten Fernandez in their two previous clay-court meetings, while Fernandez had won their previous two meetings on hard courts. The Singapore victory was Fernandez’s second against a Top 10 opponent this season.
In Saturday’s semifinal, Fernandez recovered from a one-sided opening set against Roland Garros runner-up Maja Chwalinska, winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to her first final of 2026.
The Singapore championship gives Fernandez three career titles in Asia. She won in Hong Kong in 2023 and Osaka in 2025 before adding Singapore this year. Her other singles titles came in Monterrey in 2021 and 2022 and Washington in 2025.
Fernandez also acknowledged the Filipino support she received during the tournament.
During the trophy presentation, she thanked the Singaporean and “Pinoy fans” who attended matches throughout the week, saying their encouragement, energy and positivity had made the tournament special.
Born in Montreal, Fernandez represents Canada in international competition. Her father, Jorge, is Ecuadorian, while her mother, Irene, is Filipino Canadian. Fernandez reached the U.S. Open singles final in 2021 and helped Canada capture its first Billie Jean King Cup championship in 2023.
She arrived in Singapore with a 17-23 record for the season before winning five consecutive matches for the title.
Fernandez is entered in the China Open in Beijing, the next WTA 1000 event on the Asian calendar. After the Singapore final, she said the victory gave her confidence but that the next tournament would require her to “start from zero.”
