Fernandez, Dabrowski Win Titles in Hong Kong and Zhengzhou

It was a super Sunday for Canada in the Far East on the WTA Tour.

Both Leylah Annie Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski won titles on Sunday. Fernandez defeated Katerina Siniakova to win the singles crown in Hong Kong, while Gabriela Dabrowski picked up her second title of the year with Erin Routliffe.

Fernandez’s victory was her first since March 2022. In fact, the Hong Kong final was her first final since winning in Monterrey 19-months ago.

Early on, it was her veteran opponent who did a better job of handling the pressure. But after dropping the opening set, Fernandez quickly turned the match around before surviving a wild finish to claim the title with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

It is the third title of Fernandez’s career overall and her first outside of Monterrey. The WTA 250 Hong Kong final was her first singles final outside of North America.

Siniakova actually won one more point in the match and had 18 break opportunities to the Canadian’s 14, but Fernandez hung tough, putting a high number of first serves in play as she had all week to keep her Czech opponent at bay.

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The first set went the way of Siniakova as the 27-year-old applied constant pressure to the young Canadian’s serve and was rewarded with two breaks.

But Fernandez never goes away quietly and came out in the second set refusing to miss. Stellar defence from the Canadian was rewarded by a stream of errors off of Siniakova’s racket. She broke serve twice to take a 4-0 lead which was enough to send the match to a deciding set, although she did surrender one break and had to save six break points in the eighth game.

With one set left to decide the match, the Canadian dug in and got off to another quick start with a break in the opening game and had triple break point for a 3-0 lead. But it was Siniakova’s turn to hold firm, upping the power to save those break points and stay within a break.

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A wild sequence in the middle of the deciding set saw four consecutive breaks of serve as Siniakova kept reeling Fernandez in at 3-3 and 4-4, only to let her slip away again. The run of breaks ended at the perfect moment for the Canadian, who managed to serve out the match in the 10^th game, converting her second match point by drawing another error.

With the win, Fernandez is expected to climb back into the Top 50 of the WTA Rankings.

Dabrowski/Routliffe Continue to Roll

Since August, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe have been one of, if the best doubles team in the world and they proved that yet again this week with a title at the WTA 500 event in Zhengzhou.

After surviving a tight semifinal, the Canadian/Kiwi pair were clinical in the final against Shuko Aoyama and Eno Shibahara, dropping just 10 points on serve and saving five of six break points while breaking four times in a 6-2, 6-4 win.

With the win, Dabrowski and Routliffe, who only teamed up in August but have won two titles out of three finals in just two months, will move into a qualifying place for the WTA Finals with just one more week of tournaments remaining to qualify.

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Dabrowski and Routliffe, the top seeds in Zhengzhou, wasted no time in stamping their authority in the final, breaking serve in the opening game.

When the Japanese tandem broke to level the set at 2-2, the US Open Champions immediately broke back and added an insurance break late to take the opening set.

In the second, just a single break in the third game was enough for Dabrowski and Routliffe to take the second set and the title.

The Canadian/Kiwi combo can clinch their spot at the WTA Finals this coming week in Nanchang.

A third Canadian could join them in the winners circle on Sunday, as Gabriel Diallo is competing in a final on the ATP Challenger Tour.