TWO huge WTA Tour finals have been completed, with the St. Petersburg WTA 500 title taken out by default following a mid-match withdrawal as a closely fought battle at the Monterrey WTA 250 event came to blows.

18-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez has taken out her maiden WTA title victory with a straight sets 6-1 6-4 win over Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic. The young left-hander was clinical in the first set before the match tightened up in the second, with the match getting to 4-4 before Fernandez broke Golubic’s serve and completed the victory in one hour and 29 minutes.

With two aces for three double faults and a serving efficiency of 68.7 per cent, Fernandez won 67.4 per cent of her first serve points on her way to victory, saving four of five break points and converting four of six in her maiden win. Whilst Golubic was much more powerful in the second set, she could not turn the tables against a relentless and aggressive effort from the young Canadian, who is expected to rise up the rankings to be within the world top 70.

MONTERREY OPEN FINAL RESULTS:

Leylah Fernandez (CAN) defeated Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-1 6-4

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At St. Petersburg, eighth seed Daria Kasatkina came away with the win on home soil, but in a different way to what was expected, as her opposition and compatriot Margarita Gasparyan was forced to retire early in the second set and ultimately handed Kasatkina the trophy. Whilst the 26-year-old qualifier tested Kasatkina throughout, she could not contend with the physicality of the match aggravating an existing back injury.

While it was a quick contest, only played out for 55 minutes, Kasatkina commanded control in the first and cleaned up with a 78.9 per cent first serve winning efficiency off a 67.9 per cent clip and saving two of three break points. She also collected one ace for two double faults and won 45.5 per cent of return points compared to Gasparyan’s 35.7 per cent.

With intermittent medical timeouts and a sloppy start to the second set, Gasparyan was forced to retire 6-3 2-1 but has plenty to take out of her maiden WTA 500 final appearance.

This is Kasatkina’s second title of the season following her Philip Island Trophy victory in Australia in January, taking her season record to 15-4. Factor in that this was the Russian’s first WTA 500 win since 2018, and she has plenty to be pleased about heading into the top 50 rankings once more.

“I’m proud of how I was able to manage the pressure,” Kasatkina said. “I felt differently during this tournament and I’m really proud of that.”

ST. PETERSBURG OPEN FINAL RESULTS:

[8] Daria Kasatkina (RUS) defeated Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) 6-3 2-1 W/O