‘It’s about time’: Leylah Fernandez reaches first final this season at Singapore Tennis Open

SINGAPORE – Before each point in her match against Maja Chwalinska on Sept 26, whether she was 5-0 down or serving for the match, Leylah Fernandez would turn to look at the advertisement boards for a few seconds.

Sometimes she would pump her fist, other times she would whisper to herself as she tried to hype herself up.

“Let’s go, let’s work, you can do it,” she would mutter, although some of what she said was not suitable for public consumption.

And the habit worked wonders as the Canadian world No. 31 rallied from a set down to prevail 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 over the Polish world No. 25 and reach the final of the Singapore Tennis Open presented by BNP Paribas.

“If there was a microphone in my brain, there would be a lot of beeps because there are a lot of swear words that go in and out,” she said with a laugh after the 2hr 8min semi-final at The Kallang’s OCBC Arena.

“Sometimes it’s ‘it’s okay, you lost the point but you fought for it, keep going, keep running’.

“Those phrases helped me get through and not dwell too much on the mistakes or on winners. At the end of the match, when I hit a backhand winner, it definitely felt very good and it relieved me a little bit too.”

Roland Garros finalist Chwalinska, 24, admitted she was disappointed by the loss, but can take heart from her improved showing after injuring her ankle at Wimbledon in July.

She said: “Leylah is a great player and she deserved to win. She played much better at the end of the second set, and then she kept her momentum going into the third.

“I played solid tennis throughout the whole week. Every player is dangerous here, so I had to play really well to win every match.

“I’m definitely grateful for this week and happy to get some wins, finally. It’s a process, so we’ll take some lessons from this week and keep on going.”

Fifth seed Chwalinska breezed through the first set in 31 minutes, aided by a litany of errors from Fernandez, including three double faults.

But Fernandez found her groove and secured an early break in the second set. Although Chwalinska broke back to level things at 3-3, Fernandez kept her cool with steadier ground strokes to take the second set.

Off the court, another battle was ensuing with fans of both players exchanging rounds of cheers between points.

Carrying that momentum with her, Fernandez found yet another early break in the third set. As her errors reduced, her confidence grew. A hapless Chwalinska had no answers as sixth seed Fernandez sent her scrambling from side to side.

Serving for the set for the first time at 5-2, Fernandez learnt from her previous win over top seed Mirra Andreeva.

Instead of rushing for the win like she did on Sept 26, she opted for stability and needed just one match point, sending a backhand winner down the line to reach her first final of the season.

Fernandez also drew motivation from the crowd, who cheered relentlessly whether she was trailing or leading.

The 24-year-old said: “In the first set, they cheered for the one or two points I won and they tried to get me out the third, fourth, fifth game. That helped me into never quitting.

“When I did get my first game (at 1-5 down), I heard their cheers and I thought okay, they’re not going to give up on me, let me not give up on them or myself either.

“I’m always physically good and fresh, but having them cheer me on gave me another gear to go through.”

For the title at the US$1.2 million (S$1.53 million) WTA 500 tournament, she will face Australian world No. 63 Talia Gibson, who reached the Sept 27 final after her semi-final opponent Tatiana Prozorova withdrew with a head injury.

While she will be eyeing the title, Fernandez is simply relieved at finally reaching her first final this season.

She said: “It’s about time, man. There’s been a lot of work, there’s been a lot of adversity that I faced this year.

“I worked very hard this year to try and get my confidence and movement back, trying to keep healthy, not only physically, but also mentally.

“Being able to get to a final this year means a lot and hopefully I get to continue with that good tennis and good mentality and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

In the doubles final also on Sept 27, Chinese pair Tang Qianhui and Xu Yifan will take on Erin Routliffe and Aldila Sutjiadi.