Diana Shnaider beat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo, winning her first title of 2026 after a 4-0 second-set lead disappeared. It is her sixth career title and her third at WTA 500 level.
Tokyo, Japan: For a set and a half, Diana Shnaider looked untouchable. Then Leylah Fernandez found her rhythm, the lead evaporated and a one-sided final turned into a test of nerve. Shnaider passed it, and she lifted the Pan Pacific Open trophy at the Ariake Colosseum on Sunday after two hours and 18 minutes.
A lead that vanished
The No. 3 seed took the first set 6-4 and raced to a 4-0 lead in the second. Fernandez had struggled early, double-faulting five times and landing only about half of her first serves in the opening set. Then everything changed. The Canadian won seven of the next eight games, took the second set 7-5 and forced a decider.
Shnaider steadies in the decider
The third set was where the title was won. Fernandez earned three break points on Shnaider’s serve, and the Russian saved all three to level the set at 1-1. Shnaider broke in the fifth game and went on to win the last three games, breaking Fernandez twice in the set and closing out the match on her first match point for 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
She was gracious in victory. “Firstly, I would like to congratulate Leylah on an amazing week,” she said afterwards, before thanking her team and calling the title a great achievement and a great finish to the season.
Title number six
The win was Shnaider’s first title of 2026, her sixth on the WTA Tour and her third at WTA 500 level. It also extended a remarkable finals record: she has now won six consecutive WTA finals, with her only final defeat coming against Ons Jabeur at the 2023 Ningbo Open. She had also lost all four semi-finals she reached this year before this week, so the title ended a frustrating pattern.
Her route to the trophy included a comeback from a set down in the quarter-finals, when she beat Alexandra Eala in a deciding set, and a tight semi-final win over teenage wildcard Mia Pohankova. Shnaider has now beaten Fernandez in their last four meetings, three of them this season. She is projected to climb to a career-high No. 11 in the WTA rankings.
A week to be proud of for Fernandez
Fernandez will leave Tokyo with a runner-up trophy rather than the title, but her recent form has been excellent. She won her sixth career title in Singapore in September and reached the final in Ningbo the previous week, so Tokyo marked a second consecutive final. A fifth defeat in her last 21 matches is a small blemish on a strong autumn.
Final: Diana Shnaider (3) beat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 (2h 18m), Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, 1 November 2026.
