Canadian Leylah Fernandez's first WTA doubles title will have to wait.
Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova and Britain's Olivia Nicholls defeated Fernandez and German partner Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-5 in the women's doubles final Sunday at the HSBC Championships. Fernandez and Siegemund advanced to the title match in a walkover Saturday.
They were scheduled to face Americans Iva Jovic and McCartney Kessler. But Jovic withdrew after losing 6-2, 6-2 to Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the singles semifinals earlier in the day.
Fernandez, ranked 23rd in women’s singles, was chasing a first WTA doubles crown. Sunday. She has claimed five career WTA singles titles.
After dropping the first set, Fernandez and Siegemund earned consecutive breaks _ while being broken also _ to make it 6-6 before taking the second-set tiebreaker 7-4. But Mihalikova and Nicholls controlled the deciding set to secure the victory.
Fernandez and Siegemund combined for five aces and no double faults in the match. And while they were two-for-five on break points, Fernandez and Siegemund were broken three times in six opportunities.
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