Leylah Fernandez has defended her title at Abierto GNP Seguros after beating Camila Osorio in three tight sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in three hours and six minutes on the brand new Estadio GNP Seguros.
The Montreal native hit 44 winners and served four aces while the Colombian hit 51 unforced errors in the match. Fernandez, who reached the final of the US Open last year, saved five points during what was a rollercoaster decider before prevailing. The showdown was the first time the duo have faced each other on the WTA Tour but they have previously locked horns three times in Junior Grand Slam events.
“It was a very, very tough match, not only physically or tennis-wise, but mentally,” wtatennis.com quoted Fernandez as saying. “Camila, she’s a tough player to play against. She’s very crafty, she does slices, high balls, it’s very unpredictable.
“I’m very, very happy to have gone through these hard moments, and have fought, found solutions. And Camila, I hope we have many, many more finals like this, because without her, I don’t think this tournament, this final, would be [as] special.”
It was the world number 21 who got off to a fast start holding her opening service game and breaking the number five seed to take an early 2-0 lead. At 4-1, the Canadian had a chance to go up a double break but Osorio saved it and held serve. At 5-3 with the Canadian serving for the first set she faltered and Osorio bounced back and broke to go back on serve, and the set was decided by a tiebreaker.
Fernandez jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the breaker but again the world number 35 responded by winning the next two points. It was tight till the end when Osorio got the crucial break at 6-5 to snatch the first set.
Between the first and second set, the Colombian took a medical timeout but took it off-court so it was left to speculation as to what treatment she had received.
The Canadian once again battled back in the second set earning the first break of the set to take a 2-1 lead and turned that into a double break and looked in full control at 4-1. Osorio managed to get one of those breaks back and at 5-4, Fernandez was made to work as she saved three breakpoints down 0-40 before managing to serve out the second set.
The Montreal native, who seemed motivated by winning the second set, had four chances to break in the opening game of the decider and broke serve with a stunning backhand winner to take a 1-0 lead. However, the break didn’t last long as Osorio broke right back the following game and at 2-1 broke the Canadian again and was able to consolidate the break to jump out to a 4-1 lead.
At 4-2, Fernandez had another breakpoint to go back on serve and this time it was her powerful forehand doing the job to go back on serve, and just like that, it was 4-4. Then at 5-4, it was the Colombian with the first match point of the match which was easily saved by the world number 21 and at 6-5 she had four more chances to seal the win but the Canadian dug deep to save them all.
The match was decided by another tiebreaker and it stayed on serve until 3-2 when Fernandez seized the moment and broke to take a 4-2 lead. From there she was able to serve out the match.
Fernandez’s latest triumph in Monterrery is her second career WTA title. She will now head to Indian Wells next for the BNP Paribas Open which begins on Thursday.
