Fernandez Reaches Second Straight Final in Tokyo: Faces Shnaider for the Pan Pacific Title
Canada's Leylah Fernandez extended her strong late-season run at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Saturday, beating Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova 7-5, 6-3 in the semi-finals to reach a second straight final, where she will face Russia's Diana Shnaider on Sunday.
The 24-year-old overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first set and dropped the first two games of the second before rallying, firing nine aces in a match lasting one hour and 54 minutes. "I'm proud of my mental fortitude," she said. "These aren't easy matches, so I'm happy that I was able to find solutions and stay calm in tough moments."
Fernandez finished runner-up to world number one Elena Rybakina in Ningbo last week, and advanced to this week's semi-finals via a walkover after Rybakina withdrew from their quarter-final with a neck injury. She won her first title of the season in Singapore in September and will now bid for a second.
Third seed Shnaider booked her place in the final with a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory over Slovak teenager Mia Pohankova. Pohankova led 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak before Shnaider won four of the last five points; the Russian saved five of six break points in the one-hour, 46-minute match to reach her first final of 2026, and is chasing her first title of the season, according to Reuters.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加拿大网球选手 Leylah Fernandez 在2026年美国网球公开赛上发球（资料图）。照片：Oleg Yunakov，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Canada's Leylah Fernandez serving at the 2026 US Open (file photo). Photo by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
