Kamilla Rakhimova defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the round of 64 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing and advanced to the next round. The event is being played on hard courts, and the prize money totals $9,4 million. The Uzbekistan representative is ranked No. 69, while the Canadian entered the draw as the 23rd seed.
Rakhimova won the first set by a four-game margin. In the second, Fernandez managed to level the match, but in the decider Rakhimova again came out on top, this time by three games. According to api.tennis, the decisive moment came in the third set. According to rank.tennis, Rakhimova has 959 ranking points, while Fernandez has 1839.
What happened before this match
For Rakhimova, this is her second win in Beijing: in the first round she beat Marina Bassols Ribera, 6-4, 7-6(2). Before the tournament in Seoul, she defeated Polina Kudermetova and then lost to Katie Volynets, 3-6, 0-6. Fernandez came to Beijing on a winning streak: in Singapore she beat Talia Gibson in the final, 7-5, 6-0, after previously overcoming Maja Chwalinska in the semifinal and Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinal.
In the head-to-head now, the rivals are level at 1:1. In 2024, Fernandez won 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(4), and in 2026 the victory went to Rakhimova.