Leylah Fernandez will be playing for her first WTA title of the season…

The 22-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian professional tennis play, the runner-up at the 2021 US Open, hit 12 aces and picked up her second victory of the week at the DC Open against a top-20 opponent by beating 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) across 3 hours, 16 minutes in the semifinals on Saturday.

Fernandez will face Anna Kalinskaya, who is seeking the first of her career when they meet each other in the final of the hard-court DC Open.

Kalinskaya needed less than half as much time to eliminate Emma Raducanu 6-4, 6-3 with the help of 14 backhand winners in the other women’s semifinal.

It was Raducanu who defeated Fernandez for the championship at Flushing Meadows four years ago.

Both finalists are unseeded. Canada’s Fernandez is ranked 36th; Russia’s Kalinskaya, 26, is ranked 48th.

Fernandez, who got past top-seeded Jessica Pegula earlier in the week, owns three titles. Sunday’s matchup will be her seventh career final.