{"id":30177,"date":"2025-07-29T03:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T03:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30177\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T03:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T03:35:11","slug":"chris-everts-comments-about-leylah-fernandez-in-2022-have-been-completely-validated-after-winning-washington-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30177\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Evert\u2019s comments about Leylah Fernandez in 2022 have been completely validated after winning Washington Open title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leylah Fernandez\u2019s remarkable Washington Open journey has ended in a fourth WTA Tour title for the young star.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old performed marvellously throughout the week, defeating two top 10 seeds on her way to the final against Emma Raducanu\u2019s<\/a> conqueror, Anna Kalinskaya.<\/p>\n

The Canadian was simply too good for the Russian<\/a>, taking little time to claim victory. Fernandez converted four of six break-point opportunities on her way to a 6-1 6-2 victory.<\/p>\n

Fernandez will look to continue her good form at the Canadian Open this week, before later competing at the US Open.<\/p>\n

One former US Open<\/a> champion, who won the tournament six times, spoke of how she \u2018loves\u2019 Leylah Fernandez.<\/p>\n

\"LeylahPhoto by Scott Taetsch\/Getty ImagesChris Evert said people \u2018underestimate\u2019 Leylah Fernandez<\/p>\n

Speaking to Eurosport<\/a> in 2022, three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert<\/a> was discussing Leylah Fernandez\u2019s game ahead of the Canadian\u2019s French Open quarter-final against Martina Trevisan.<\/p>\n

Evert said of Fernandez: \u201cI love her, I love her heart, her fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just so intense out there. I just love the fact that she values every single point. She doesn\u2019t get messy, she doesn\u2019t make a lot of unforced errors.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember: she got to the US Open final, but all the attention went to Emma Raducanu. She is the one that beat three of the top five female players in the world to get there; she had a much tougher draw. People underestimate her. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s little, she\u2019s not that big so she can\u2019t overpower you, but it\u2019s the intangibles and the way she directs the ball\u2026 she\u2019s such a great player, especially on clay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LeylahPhoto by Elsa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Evert has been proven absolutely correct. Fernandez has been underestimated for some time, partly due to a reduced spotlight since losing in the US Open final to Emma Raducanu.<\/p>\n

However, the Canadian\u2019s talent has not simply disappeared. She is a force to be reckoned with, and has demonstrated this by winning four WTA Tour titles since her US Open final loss.<\/p>\n

Her performance at the Washington Open<\/a> only serves to strengthen this argument. Fernandez battled her way past both Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula on her way to the title, demonstrating her ability to perform at a consistent level throughout a tournament against some of the WTA Tour\u2019s best opposition.<\/p>\n

Leylah Fernandez\u2019s run at the 2021 US Open<\/p>\n

Though Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open, she most certainly had an easier path to victory than Leylah Fernandez. <\/p>\n

While Raducanu did not face a player seeded in the top 10, Fernandez defeated two players in the top five, and two former Grand Slam champions.<\/p>\n

This is not to discredit Raducanu\u2019s achievement \u2013 it was remarkable \u2013 but rather to highlight just how talented Leylah Fernandez is.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old Canadian did not drop a set in her first two rounds at Flushing Meadows, before facing off against defending US Open champion and third seed Naomi Osaka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2021 US Open RoundOpponent\/ResultR128bt Ana Konjuh 7-6 6-2R64bt Kaia Kanepi 7-5 7-5R32bt Naomi Osaka 5-7 7-6 6-4R16bt Angelique Kerber 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2Quarter-finalsbt Elina Svitolina 6-3 3-6 7-6Semi-finalsbt Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 4-6 6-4Finallost to Emma Raducanu 4-6 3-6<\/p>\n

Fernandez showed remarkable resilience to fight back from a set down against Osaka, winning 5-7 7-6 6-3.<\/p>\n

She then dispatched former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth round, and fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Fernandez was ranked 73 in the world heading into the tournament, but this did not prevent her from beating second seed and future US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, again in three sets.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Canadian came up short against Emma Raducanu in the final. However, she put the world on notice, and she might be ready to return to that same form after her exemplary performance at the 2025 Washington Open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leylah Fernandez\u2019s remarkable Washington Open journey has ended in a fourth WTA Tour title for the young star.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[6563,14803,101,118,56,54,55,6963,7512],"class_list":["post-30177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-chris-evert","tag-leylah-fernandez","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-washington-open","tag-wta-tennis-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}