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Canadian Leylah Fernandez’s first WTA doubles title will have to wait.
Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Britain’s Olivia Nicholls defeated Fernandez and German partner Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-5 in the women’s doubles final Sunday at the HSBC Championships in London. Fernandez and Siegemund advanced to the title match in a walkover Saturday.
They were scheduled to face Americans Iva Jovic and McCartney Kessler. But Jovic withdrew after losing 6-2, 6-2 to Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the singles semifinals earlier in the day.
Fernandez, ranked 23rd in women’s singles, was chasing a first WTA doubles crown. She has claimed five career WTA singles titles.
After dropping the first set, Fernandez and Siegemund earned consecutive breaks — while being broken also — to make it 6-6 before taking the second-set tiebreaker 7-4. But Mihalikova and Nicholls controlled the deciding set to secure the victory.
Fernandez and Siegemund combined for five aces and no double faults in the match. And while they were two-for-five on break points, Fernandez and Siegemund were broken three times in six opportunities.
Vekic wins women’s singles
Emma Raducanu fell short of a dream title on home soil at the Queen’s Club after Croatian lucky loser Donna Vekic won the final 6-0, 7-6 (6) in London on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Raducanu was looking for her first singles trophy since her stunning win as a qualifier at the 2021 U.S. Open.
The British No. 1 was swiftly beaten in the first set but saved three championship points in the second on the way to a tiebreaker, where she saved another and came close to taking it to a deciding set.
Rain earlier in the tournament resulted in Raducanu having to power through a two-match day on Saturday, beating Kamilla Rakhimova then American Iva Jovic to reach the first grass-court and third tour-level final of her career.
Raducanu finished runner-up to Sorana Cirstea in Cluj-Napoca, her second final, in February.
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