Alex de Minaur Survives Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to Claim DC Open Title

It’s a title-clinching come from behind victory for Alex de Minaur. 

The 26-year-old Uruguayan & Spanish Australian tennis professional rallied from a set down and saved three championship points en route to a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final of the DC Open on Sunday.

Alex de Minaurde Minaur, who was seeded seventh for the tournament, earned his 10th ATP Tour title and eighth on hard courts.

He was the runner-up to Alexander Zverev in Washington in 2018, and will enter the top 10 in the world rankings ahead of next month’s US Open.

Davidovich Fokina, the No. 12 seed, dropped to 0-4 for his career in finals despite leading 5-2 in the third set Sunday and repeatedly standing just a single point from victory. This was his second time frittering away multiple match points in a tournament final this year.

The 26-year-old Spaniard entered the week at No. 26 and will make his debut in the top 20 on Monday; he remains the highest-ranked man without a title.

“Alejandro, you’re way too good not to have one of these, it’s coming for sure,” de Minaur said during the on-court ceremony, gesturing to the trophy. “You deserved it today, I just got lucky. You are a hell of a competitor, hell of a player. No one on the tour wants to play you.”

Following their match, de Minaur walked over and sat next to Davidovich Fokina, consoling him after the hard-fought loss.

“I want to say congrats to Alex. He deserved the win. He was fighting every f—ing ball,” Davidovich Fokina said. “He was always pushing through my limits.”

Davidovich Fokina recalled that he had required a wild card to play in the U.S. capital last year, and was pleased to have at least guaranteed a rise to a career-high No. 19 ranking.

“We had a job to do before we started the yeard to be at the middle of the year in the top 20,” he said. “This week we did it, just not with the trophy. But for sure, we will keep going, pushing our limits, pushing harder.”

Leylah Fernandez Wins Her First Ever WTA 500 Title at DC Open

Leylah Fernandez has claimed the biggest title of her career…

The 22-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player won the DC Open on Sunday with the help of a terrific backhand, some superb returning and energy courtesy of Shake Shack‘s burgers and fries.

Leylah Fernandez,

The left-handed Fernandez, who is ranked 36th, wrapped up a big week of tight matches with a lopsided victory, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final.

Fernandez earned her fourth singles trophy — all have come at hard-court tournaments — and first at a WTA 500 event.

She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.

There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals Saturday.

Fernandez took quite a journey through the women’s bracket.

She needed 2 hours, 19 minutes to oust No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula, last year’s US Open runner-up, in three sets in the second round. She then needed 2 hours, 20 minutes to beat Taylor Townsend in the quarterfinals and 3 hours, 12 minutes for a three-tiebreaker victory over No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, in the semifinals.

After each of the last two, Fernandez and her father, who is also her coach, opted for Shake Shack.

“We got burgers, hot dog, cheese fries — everything that an athlete should not eat before a match, but it did the trick,” Fernandez said about what she ate after the Townsend match. “It gave me the right nutrients to recover from the cramps and get ready for the next round.”

Following the Rybakina marathon, Fernandez said she and her father “were messaging, and I was, like, ‘OK, what do you want to eat tonight?’ We both answered at the same time: burgers. … That was kind of my diet for the whole week.”

It worked: This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open.

Plus, she arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and hadn’t won more than two matches at the same tournament since last November.

“I have gone through so many different challenges this week. It just has made me stronger, in a way, that if I can get through this week — through the cramps, through the long matches, through the heat, the humidity — I can get through anything,” Fernandez said. “So I was just very happy that I got to not only push myself physically through the limits, but also mentally. So that kind of will help me hopefully for future tournaments.”

Against the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya, who hadn’t dropped a set until Sunday, Fernandez saved the only break point she faced while breaking four times.

One key: Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points when Kalinskaya hit a second serve. Another: Kalinskaya, a 26-year-old Russian who is 0-3 in tour finals, finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners.

“Amazing fight this week,” Kalinskaya told Fernandez. “You truly deserve it.”

Alex de Minaur Defeats Corentin Moutet to Reach DC Open Final

Alex de Minaur is back in the finals in the U.S. capital…

The 26-year-old Spanish-Uruguayan Australian tennis player, the No. 7 seed, advanced to his second DC Open final by beating Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-3.

Alex de Minaurde Minaur will now face No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated No. 4 Ben Shelton 6-2, 7-5 in the other semifinal.

The semifinal win was de Minaur’s 20th victory on a hard court in 2025, the most on the ATP Tour.

No 13 in the world rankings, de Minaur moved into his 19th career final; he’s 9-9 so far.

One of the runner-up finishes came against Alexander Zverev at Washington in 2018.

Leylah Fernandez Defeats Elena Rybakina to Reach DC Open Final

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.

Leylah Fernandez,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.