��������

WASHINGTON: Leylah Fernandez collected the biggest title of her career at the D.C. Open with her most lopsided victory of the tournament, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final on Sunday.
The left-handed Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who is ranked 36th, earned her fourth singles trophy — all have come at hard-court tournaments — and first at a WTA 500 event. She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.
There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals Saturday.
Until Sunday, the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya had not dropped a set all week.
However, she wasn’t able to keep up with Fernandez, who saved the only break point she faced while taking four of Kalinskaya’s service games in a match that lasted 1 hour, 10 minutes. One key: Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points in the match when Kalinskaya hit a second serve.

Another: Kalinskaya finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners.
This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open.
She dedicated this victory to her mother, her older sister and her fitness trainer.
“Thank you so much for never giving up on me — and don’t give up on yourselves,” Fernandez said. “This trophy is for you guys.”
She arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and hadn’t won more than two matches at the same tournament since last November.
With a mix of baseline excellence and strong net play, Fernandez eliminated top-seeded Jessica Pegula — the US Open runner-up last year — and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina — the Wimbledon champion in 2022 — on the way to the final.
The win against Rybakina in Saturday’s semifinals took three tiebreakers and more than three hours to decide.
“Amazing fight this week,” Kalinskaya told Fernandez after the title match. “You truly deserve it.”
There was no such drama against Kalinskaya, a 26-year-old Russian who fell to 0-3 in tour-level finals. She lost to Jasmine Paolini in Dubai and to Pegula in Berlin last year.
The men’s final scheduled for later Sunday was No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur against No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Ben Shelton in the semifinals.
 

PORTRUSH, UK: Scottie Scheffler said on Tuesday he does “not care” about being the tournament favorite as he prepares for his latest tilt at a maiden British Open title this week at Royal Portrush.

The world number one has never seriously threatened to win a Claret Jug, but is again enjoying a run of supreme form and arrives in Northern Ireland as the PGA champion.

The American has emphatically rebounded from a slow start to the year after suffering a freak hand injury cutting himself on a wine glass, reeling off 10 successive top-10 finishes including three victories.

“I could not care any less about being the favorite or not being the favorite,” he said.

“We all start even par and the tournament starts on Thursday. That’s pretty much all that matters.”

Scheffler produced his best British Open finish last year with a tie for seventh, but ended his tournament at Troon in ignominious style with an embarrassing topped tee shot on the 18th en route to a closing double-bogey.

He has never missed the cut at the links major before, though, and believes he has what it takes to lift the Claret Jug.

“In terms of links golf, I love the style of golf. I think it’s really fun and you have to be creative,” Scheffler added.

“You have to hit a lot of really good shots. There’s a challenge to it, but I think it’s a lot of fun.

“We’ll see how the weather turns out this week. Weather has a pretty dramatic effect on how the golf course is going to play.”

Scheffler won nine titles last season, including the Masters and the Olympic gold medal.

His third major title at the PGA Championship in May is one of his three victories so far this year, but he says he doesn’t set himself specific targets.

“I don’t look at wins and losses or stuff like that.

“I don’t sit down at the beginning of the year and say I want to win X number of times; I want to win this many majors; I want to win this many tournament events. That’s not something I do.

“That’s not something that works for me.”