Leylah Fernandez and Diana Shnaider will meet in the Tokyo Open final on Sunday after both won straight-sets semifinals on Saturday, setting up a Pan Pacific Open title clash between two of the form players of the Asian swing.
Fernandez, the world No. 23 from Canada, defeated lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 54 minutes, while third seed Shnaider beat 18-year-old wild card Mia Pohankova 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in one hour and 46 minutes.
The final, a WTA 500 event at Tokyo’s Ariake Tennis Forest Park, carries 500 ranking points and $185,500 for the winner.
For recent WTA final coverage, see Sonay Kartal’s run to the Wuhan Open final.
Fernandez keeps her Asian swing rolling
Fernandez faced an early deficit in both sets against Rakhimova but rallied each time, winning six of the final seven games from 2-0 down in the second set. She finished with 41 winners against 20 unforced errors and nine aces.
The win improved Fernandez to 14-3 during the Asian swing and marked her 16th win in her last 20 matches. It is her third final in a row on the swing: she won her first title of the season in Singapore in September, then finished runner-up to world No. 1 Elena Rybakina in Ningbo last week.
Fernandez reached the Tokyo semifinals after Rybakina withdrew from their match with a neck injury, a day after the Kazakh secured the year-end world No. 1 ranking. One of Fernandez’s three recent defeats came against Rakhimova in a three-setter in Beijing — a loss she avenged on Saturday.
Fernandez praised her “mental fortitude” after reaching the final, and will look to draw on the same energy on Sunday’s Center Court.
Shnaider survives a tiebreak scare
Shnaider, the world No. 13, found herself one point from a deciding set when Pohankova moved ahead 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak. The Russian responded by winning four of the final five points to reach her first final of 2026, and she is chasing her first title of the year.
Pohankova, the 18-year-old Slovak wild card and former Wimbledon junior champion, had earlier taken the fight to the third seed, but Shnaider recovered an early break in the first set before closing out the tiebreak 9-7.
A final with history behind it
Shnaider leads the head-to-head series 3-2 and has won the past three meetings, including two earlier this year in Adelaide and Charleston. Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist, will aim to turn her strong run of form into a second tournament victory of the Asian swing.
Sunday’s final is a meeting of two top-25 players in contrasting form lines: Fernandez riding a wave of recent finals, Shnaider hunting a first title of the season after a composed semifinal escape.
Sources
- WTA Tour, “Shnaider, Fernandez win big points down the stretch to set up Tokyo Final showdown,” October 31, 2026
- AFP via Straits Times, “Leylah Fernandez reaches Tokyo final against Shnaider,” October 31, 2026
