Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., won her sixth career WTA singles title on Sunday, rallying from a set point down to beat Australia’s Talia Gibson 7-5, 6-0 in the final of the Singapore Tennis Open, according to the WTA.
The sixth-seeded Fernandez needed one hour and 38 minutes to close out the WTA 500 event. She saved a set point before taking the first set 7-5, then ran away with a 6-0 second set. Fernandez won 82 per cent of her first-serve points and did not face a single break point in the second set, the tour said.
It is Fernandez’s second WTA 500 title and her third trophy won in Asia, following victories in Hong Kong in 2023 and Osaka in 2025, the WTA said. Gibson, who is ranked outside the top 100, was playing in her first tour-level final.
Fernandez’s run to the title included a quarterfinal win over top seed Mirra Andreeva, this year’s French Open champion, marking her second victory over the Russian in 2026, according to the WTA. Fernandez then beat Poland’s Maja Chwalinska, the Roland Garros runner-up, in the semifinal. She dropped only one set over the course of the week, the tour said.
Fernandez entered the tournament with a 17-23 record for the season, after winning two titles in 2025, the WTA said.
The title win earned Fernandez $185,500 US in prize money and 440 ranking points, enough to lift her five spots, from No. 31 to No. 26, in the WTA’s live rankings, according to Tennis365, which cited the tour’s rolling 52-week points system. Gibson earned $114,500 US and was projected to climb 26 places to a career-high No. 37 once official rankings update Monday, the outlet reported. The result also makes Gibson the new Australian No. 1, displacing Kimberly Birrell.
After the match, Fernandez thanked the crowd in Singapore, many of whom she said had roots in the Philippines. “I would like to thank all the Singaporean fans and the Pinoy fans who came to watch,” she said, according to the WTA. “You guys made this week extremely special with all your encouragement.”
Fernandez, who turned 24 earlier this month, first became a household name in Canada in September 2021, when she reached the final of the U.S. Open as a teenager, losing to Britain’s Emma Raducanu. She has remained one of Canada’s most prominent women’s tennis players in the years since, regularly representing the country at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Sunday’s result gives Fernandez her first title since 2025 and caps a strong run through Asia, where she has now won three of her six career trophies, in Hong Kong, Osaka and Singapore.
(This story was compiled from reporting by the WTA and Tennis365.)
