Monterey Championship | Laila Fernandez comes from behind and won her second title

Quebec’s Leila Fernandez won her second professional title on Sunday by defeating Camila Osorio in three sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the final of the tournament in Monterrey, Mexico.

Nicholas Richard
Journalism

And so she defended her title, which she took last year, by holding on to a total of five match points. This trench warfare lasted more than three hours.

It was a thunderous applause that the hero spoke to the audience after the match, during the award ceremony. She was even unable to speak. The spectators shouted his name loudly.

With the usual restraint, Fernandez spoke to the attendees in Spanish.

“First of all, I would like to thank you for coming to watch our game and I would like to congratulate Camila and her team for the wonderful work they did throughout the week. From the start, I hope we will face each other a few times in the final in the future,” she explained.

She also thanked the tournament organizers, supervisors and volunteers for organizing the event.

After that, the end of his speech was dedicated to his father Jorge, who is in Monterrey. He is his “trainer and best friend”. She couldn’t thank him enough for everything he does for her, being with her all week and helping her get better. She hopes to be able to hold other titles like the one she just won in the coming years.

action packed game

Last year, the left-hander won her first title at the same tournament. This time it wasn’t easy, and I worked hard. The two young players have faced each other three times at the junior level, but this was their first duel in the professional ranks.

Fernando, 21^{And the} A world-class player, he started this final in a big way by winning his first three games and breaking Osorio in the process. She solidified her lead in Game Five by not providing any points to her opponent, but it was a 4-1 score that started the Colombian. 44^{And the} The seeded player won four out of five matches to take the first set 5-5.

She sped up her game, put more pressure on her balls and completely brought back all the threats from Quebec. The first set went into the tiebreak and Osorio came from behind again. Fernandez led 3-1, but her opponent eventually won the set.

Osorio took a medical break after the first round.

She did not seem upset when activities resumed, as she had won her first service game. However, Fernandez regained the score and was the best in the next four matches.

However, history in the first set seemed to repeat itself, as both players enjoyed successful serving. Osorio Fernandez broke and then won the next match by knockout.

However, Fernandez came out on top. She came back strong on the next point and fought hard to regain the 5-3 lead. in 10^{And the} From the set, she saved three break points to finally win the set 6-4. She gave a great cry of relief. Bleeding stops. It was her play on return of the serve that saved her during this round, in particular winning 75% of the points in the second ball.

Since the start of the third set, the first match was such a match, that is, very close. Osorio saved two break points at the start, but after long stretches of wins and several draws, Quebec fell away with the second half.

That was enough to get Osorio back on the right track. The Colombian has taken over the service of its rival. We were playing break to break at 1-1. What followed was Osorio’s action, but Fernandez had a spark in Game Six, 4-1. The warrior in her reappeared.

However, an incident came to break the rhythm of the match. At 6-5, with Fernandes sending and it was a tie, the stadium lights went out. On the sequence, the Colombian assessed the situation, and even if the Quebecers argued that the referee should have stopped the match, the status quo was maintained. Work was suspended for 14 minutes. Returning, Fernandez erased the fourth game point from the point and pushed the match to its limits. I dealt the same blow as I did in the first set, coming from the back 4-1.

The two young players fought ruthlessly and with extremely high intensity to the end.

In the tiebreak, Fernandes was more combative, focused and relentless than her opponent. She won the point 7-3 for her second career title.