Osaka: Leylah Fernandez won her first Japan Open title on Sunday. The No. 4 seed defeated 18-year-old qualifier Tereza Valentova, who was making her WTA final debut, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 in 2 hours and 11 minutes.

The victory marked Fernandez’s fifth career title and her second of 2025. All five of her career titles have been won on hard courts.

Her run in Osaka, which included five consecutive wins, was only the second time since her victory in Washington, D.C., in July that she won back-to-back matches.

With the win, Fernandez climbed five spots to No. 22 in the WTA Live Rankings and reclaimed the Canadian No. 1 ranking from Victoria Mboko, WTA reports.

Fernandez started the match confidently, taking less than 30 minutes to race through the first set and bagel the young Czech. Valentova l

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