After winning three WTA 250 titles on hard courts, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez stepped up on the surface by capturing the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open title on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.: Draws | Scores | Order of play

World No. 36 Leylah Fernandez swept past No. 48 Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the hard-court final, securing her fourth career WTA singles title.

Fernandez needed just 1 hour, 9 minutes to close out the final, becoming the first Canadian woman to win the Washington title.

'The match was very solid from my part,' Fernandez said in her post-match press. 'I was very happy the way that I held my nerves. I was definitely very nervous in the beginning, but I got to play my game in the important points and kind of push through those nerves, so I was super happy about that.'

The 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez had been in a minor title drought, hoisting her most recent champion's trophy at Hong Kong in October 2023. Her most recent final had been just over a year ago, finishing runner-up to Daria Kasatkina on the grass of WTA 500 Eastbourne.

But the Canadian was gritty all week in Washington, battling on court for over nine hours cumulatively just to get to the final, including a 3-hour and 12-minute win over Elena Rybakina in the semifinals.

Kalinskaya, by contrast, had not dropped a set en route to her third career WTA singles final. But those patterns were upended on Sunday, as Fernandez picked up another title while Kalinskaya is still looking for her first.

'I have gone through so many different challenges this week,' Fernandez said. 'You know, I think it just has made me stronger in a way that if I can get through this week, through the cramps, through the long matches, through the heat, the humidity, I can get through anything.

'So I was just very happy that I got to not only push myself physically through the limits but also mentally. So that kind of will help me hopefully for future tournaments.'

In the first set, Fernandez stared down a break point at 1-1, but she got out of that game with a hold. And after that early danger, Fernandez was unstoppable for the rest of the set.

Kalinskaya dropped serve with a double fault in the next game, and Fernandez ran away with five games in a row to seal the one-set lead. A winning drop shot by the Canadian closed out the opener after just 30 minutes.

It was more of the same in the second set as Fernandez romped to victory. Fernandez converted four of six break points in the match, and never dropped serve.

Townsend, Zhang win doubles title: American Taylor Townsend clinched the WTA doubles World No. 1 ranking on Friday with her semifinal win at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, but she didn't stop there.

In Saturday's final, No. 2 seeds Townsend and Zhang Shuai finished their week with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Caroline Dolehide and Sofia Kenin to take the title. The victors needed just 48 minutes to prevail.

It is Townsend's milestone 10th career WTA doubles title. Zhang of China, a former World No. 2 in doubles, is up to 15 career WTA doubles titles.