Leylah Annie Fernandez Defends her Title in Monterrey
Toronto, Sunday, March 6, 2022 — On Sunday night, Leylah Annie Fernandez (Laval, QC) wins her second title at the Abierto GNP Seguros in as many years, beating Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final of the WTA 250 event in Monterrey, Mexico.
The 19-year-old Canadian was playing in her first final since her showdown with Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Her opponent in today’s contest was another fellow young star, Osorio, who turned 20 in December. This week, Fernandez defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, China’s Qinwen Zheng and Qiang Wang, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, and Osorio en route to claiming her second career title. She is now 2-2 in WTA Tour-level finals and improved her record in Monterrey to an astonishing 12-1.
Meanwhile, Osorio reached the final with wins over Poland’s Magdalena Frech, local favourite Marcela Zacarias, top-seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, and Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz. The 20-year-old Colombian was also playing for her second career title, winning her first on home soil at the 2021 Copa Colsanitas in Bogota.
It was the first meeting between Fernandez and Osorio, and it did not disappoint. Fernandez was far more aggressive out of the gate and managed to jump out to an early 3-0 lead. But, Osorio was able to regain her rhythm and started to play incredible defence, breaking Fernandez back in the ninth game to eventually send the opening set to a tiebreak. After a handful of superb rallies, it was Osorio who came out on top, claiming the tiebreak on her first set point opportunity.
The Colombian really turned it up a notch in the second half of the opening frame, but, Fernandez halted her momentum in the second set and broke Osorio’s serve twice. Serving for the set in the 10th game, Fernandez found herself in a love-40 hole but managed to scrap her way out of it, closing out the 6-4 set in 43 minutes.
In the back-and-forth decider, the defending champion continued to apply pressure and broke her opponent in the opening game. However, Osorio struck back immediately, and then both players exchanged breaks in the fourth and seventh games. From there, Fernandez and Osorio held serve to force a championship tiebreak, but not without drama, as the cool and calm Fernandez fended off five Osorio championship points. On top of that, during the fifth match point, a light flickered off in the stadium mid point, causing a long interruption in the match.
There would be no denying Fernandez in the tiebreak, as she rode that wave of momentum from the previous game all the way to her championship-clinching point. Fernandez took the tiebreak 7-3, and is now a two-time Abierto GNP Seguros champion! Next up for Fernandez is the Eisenhower Cup, a Tie Break Tens event taking place on Tuesday, March 8 in Indian Wells.
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