Canada's Leylah Fernandez defeated Kamilla Rakhimova in the Pan Pacific Open semifinal to make her way into her third WTA final of the year
TOKYO — Canada's Leylah Fernandez defeated Kamilla Rakhimova in the Pan Pacific Open semifinal to make her way into her third WTA final of the year, as Diana Shnaider also overcame teenager Mia Pohankova to move into the showdown clash here on Saturday.
Fernandez overcame a break down in both sets to march past Rakhimova 7-5, 6-3, in a one-hour-and-54-minute battle. She was trailing 1-3 in the first set after having lost her serve in the third game, but earned it back in the sixth game to level things at 3-3. The two held their serves before the Canadian got the decisive break in the 12th game to bag the opening set 7-5 in 59 minutes.
She was broken down yet again in the second set, having lost her serve in the first game of the second set itself. She broke the Uzbek in the fourth game for a 2-2 parity before earning a break to lead 5-3 and close out the game with a hold in a 49-minute second set.
This is Fernandez's third WTA final appearance this year, and she is on a strong Asian swing. The Canadian won the Singapore Open in September by beating Talia Gibson but lost to Elena Rybakina in the Ningbo Open final last week.
"Yes, I mean it was a very tough match. She beat me three weeks ago. She played an incredible match then, and she still played an incredible match now," Fernandez said in her on-court interview.
"So I'm just happy the way that I stayed composed at least for the most part of the match and of course used the energy from the crowd to help me. So thank you for supporting me and helping me through this match," she added.
Meanwhile, Shnaider defeated wild card Pohankova 6-4, 7-6 (7) in a hard one-hour-and-46-minute battle in the other semifinal and will be facing Fernandez for the WTA 500 title in Tokyo. She overcame an early break and had to save a set point in the second set to move into the finals.
The Russian lost her serve in the third game of the first set before earning it back in the eighth game and then breaking again to win the first set 6-4. She also had to save a set point in the second set tie-break before winning it 9-7 to make her way into the final.
"Yeah, I mean, it's never easy on this stage, one step away from the final. Yeah, she's definitely a special talent, you know, 18 years old, so for sure future career ahead of her. But yeah, very happy to be in the first final of my season. So definitely special to achieve it here," Shnaider said after her win.