In Washington, Fernandez has an 'aggressive' approach to title defense
No. 7 seed Leylah Fernandez got her Mubadala DC Open title defense off to a flying start on Monday, needing 1 hour and 19 minutes to defeat Magda Linette 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.
The Canadian isn't just bidding to repeat in the American capital but to kickstart her 2026 season. Through Wimbledon, Fernandez compiled a 12-18 record, including first-round exits at each of the Grand Slams, and has not made a semifinal since Hong Kong in October 2025. She's hoping to draw on the memories of her first WTA 500 title here last year will trigger a turnaround.
"It's tough when the beginning of the season doesn't go the way that you want it to go," Fernandez said ahead of the tournament. "But I try to kind of take it day by day and enjoy the process, the hard work, the hours on court, trying to find the positives in things.
"I definitely think back on those memories, on those feelings, the positive feelings, the fight, the energy that the crowd brought. So I try to use that to my advantage and try to go back into that state, and hopefully I can reproduce that here. But I do know that one year is a long time, so a lot can change. I'm just going to try to go out there with the mindset of figuring things out."
Linette is a familiar opponent for Fernandez -- the pair have now played five times this decade, and the Canadian has won four of those matches. However, this was the first time they had met on outdoor hard courts -- Fernandez's previous wins came on clay (at Roland Garros 2020 and 2023) and indoor hard courts (the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals), while Linette's sole victory in the series was on the green clay of Charleston 2022.
Fernandez delivered a superb serving performance, landing 71% of her first serves and winning 74% of those points. Indeed, until the penultimate game of the match, the former US Open finalist had conceded only eight points behind her delivery. Serving for the match at 5-3, Fernandez briefly dipped with a double fault and a tame approach, enabling Linette to break serve for the only time.
However, the Pole was unable to build on it; an error-strewn performance from her side of the court continued in the next game, and a slew of cheap forehand errors meant that Fernandez could still get over the line with a minimum of fuss.
Fernandez will next face either Alexandra Eala, whom she defeated 6-1, 6-4 in Stuttgart in April, or wild card Zheng Qinwen, with whom her head-to-head is tied at 2-2.
An aggressive approach to defending a title
This is the third time that Fernandez has played a tournament as defending champion, and she's already succeeded in repeating once -- in Monterrey, where she won back-to-back in 2021-22. (At Hong Kong 2024, she was dethroned in the semifinals by Diana Shnaider.)
"There's definitely some nerves, a little bit of pressure, because you're a defending champ," she said after defeating Linette. "You're also defending so many points. You can't really escape that word 'defending champ' because it's kind of everywhere. You see your name in the stadium beside [2025 ATP winner] Alex de Minaur, so it's like you can't escape it."
At this point, Fernandez and her team -- which now includes Venus Williams's former coach Eric Hechtman -- have their mindset down pat. It's less about defending her title as going out to take a new one.
"My coaches have done a great job throughout the weeks working together saying, 'Hey, we're coming in here to earn it,' Fernandez said. "We're not here to defend anything because we're not a defensive team. We're an aggressive team.
"We're coming here to earn our points. Not to defend or not to get another title, but to earn it. That's been the mindset."
Cocciaretto triumphs over Tauson in marathon comeback
As temperatures and humidity soared, Elisabetta Cocciaretto made a supreme effort to come through her opener. The Italian trailed Clara Tauson 6-4, 3-1, but battled back to win 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(2) in 3 hours and 5 minutes. It was her first win since Rome in May.
A thrilling contest in which neither player could be counted out until the end, Cocciaretto led 3-1 in the third set and served for the match at 5-4, only for Tauson to begin landing some of her heaviest blows to force a tiebreak. Once there, it was Cocciaretto who took control, with her backhand coming to the fore as she rattled off 11 of the last 13 points of the match.
Cocciaretto will next face No. 8 seed Emma Navarro, who overturned a 3-0 second-set deficit and saved one set point to win an all-American derby over wild card Sofia Kenin 6-0, 7-5.
