Leylah Fernandez & Gabriela Dabrowski Taste Success In Hong Kong
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By Doug Hirdle
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Summary
- Canadian female players tasted success on the WTA tour in Hong Kong
- Leylah Fernandez won the singles tournament beating Katerina Siniakova
- Gabriela Dabrowski teamed up with Erin Routliffe to win the doubles
Canadian female tennis players Leylah Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski made it a special Sunday for Canadian tennis fans as they played tremendously well in their respective divisions. They were competing in the WTA Tour event in Hong Kong and came out on top.
Leylah Fernandez Wins Third Title
Leylah Fernandez (pictured, left) put herself in the spotlight in 2021 when she made it to the US Open finals. Canadian tennis fans were hopeful that she would continue to get better after losing the US Open final to Emma Raducanu.
She went as high as 13 in the world rankings during August 2022 but things did not go as per plan in 2023. She entered the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open ranked 60 but put together a good run that helped her enter the finals and face Czech tennis player Katerina Siniakova.
Leylah lost the first set 3-6 but came back hard in the second set to win 6-4 and then used the momentum to take the final set 6-4 and the match. This victory in Hong Kong gave her a 3rd career title win and will now push her into the top 50 rankings again.
In a post-match interview, Leylah said
We had a very, very hard past couple of years. My family, my parents, my coach, and my performance coach stayed by my side. They motivated me to keep going and the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, we can keep going this way.
Leylah Fernandez who was born in Montreal, Québec is just 21 years old and has enormous potential to become one of the top female tennis players in Canada if she can maintain her focus and work on being more consistent.
Gabriela Dabrowski Wins Doubles Tournament
Gabriela Dabrowski (pictured, right in duo) who is from Ottawa, Canada teamed up with Kiwi Erin Routliffe during the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open and had a great run. They reached the final and took on the Japanese team of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara.
Dabrowski and Routliffe made it look pretty easy as they ended up winning 6-2, 6-4 to win the female’s doubles tournament.
