{"id":227591,"date":"2025-10-20T14:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T14:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227591\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T14:01:09","slug":"leylah-fernandez-posts-heartfelt-message-on-social-media-after-winning-the-japan-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227591\/","title":{"rendered":"Leylah Fernandez posts heartfelt message on social media after winning the Japan Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Leylah Fernandez has won her second title of the season at the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka, Japan.<\/p>\n

Fernandez lifted the Washington Open title<\/a> back in July, which was her biggest career title to date.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the Canadian had failed to win more than two matches in a row since then, but returned to form in Osaka and reached the final, where she would play rising teenage prospect Tereza Valentova<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experience would show in the final, as Fernandez beat Valentova to win the Japan Open<\/a>, and she has now reflected on her victory on social media.<\/p>\n

\"LeylahPhoto by PAUL MILLER\/AFP via Getty ImagesLeylah Fernandez posts first message on social media after winning Japan Open<\/p>\n

The Japan Open<\/a> is the fifth WTA<\/a> singles title of Fernandez\u2019s<\/a> career, all of which have come on hard courts.<\/p>\n

Fernandez was very complimentary towards Valentova in her on-court speech after the match, and she has continued this sentiment in her post on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cTitle No.5 (followed by a series of emojis),\u201d wrote Fernandez. \u201cOsaka, I love you!!!!! I\u2019m so grateful for this week at the @kinoshitagroupjapanopen \u2013 the fans, the place, the team, the facility, the food, everything was so special. Arigat\u014d.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to thank my team and family back home who have been cheering me on from afar all week. You guys are the best and I wouldn\u2019t be doing this without you!!<\/p>\n

\u201cA big congrats to my opponent @tery.valentova and her team for a great run this week \u2013 I know I\u2019ll see a lot more of you! Future is bright! To more, let\u2019s keep the work going\u201d<\/p>\n

It appears that the warm feeling between the players is reciprocated, with Valentova congratulating Fernandez in the comments of this post, simply writing, \u201cWell deserved Leylah!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Billie Jean King and Bianca Andreescu send messages to Leylah Fernandez<\/p>\n

There has been a warm reception to Fernandez winning the Japan Open title, and it was not just Valentova who congratulated the former US Open<\/a> finalist.<\/p>\n

Leading the tributes for Fernandez was 12-time Grand Slam singles champion Billie Jean King<\/a>, who sent a message on social media.<\/p>\n

King wrote on Instagram, \u201cCongratulations, @leylahannietennis!\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Billie<\/p>\n

King was not the only Grand Slam champion who wished Fernandez well, with former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu<\/a> sending a message to her compatriot.<\/p>\n

Andreescu wrote in the comments on Fernandez\u2019s post, \u201cGo girl (salute and heart emojis).\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez will now remain in Japan for a quick turnaround, as she competes at the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old faces a tricky opening match in the Japanese capital against former world number three Maria Sakkari<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Leylah Fernandez has won her second title of the season at the WTA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,110262,21590,85,747,2637],"class_list":{"0":"post-227591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-japan-open","11":"tag-leylah-fernandez","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}