Canadian Laila Fernandez praised my “mental toughness” after she reached the final of the Tokyo Open tennis tournament (500 points), where she will face Russian Diana Schneider.
The twenty-third seed in the world defeated Uzbekistan's Kamila Rahimova 7-5, 6-3 in Tokyo on Saturday to reach the second final in a row.
Fernandez won her first title this season in Singapore in September, then reached the final of the Ningbo tournament last week, where she lost to world number one Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina.
In the final, Fernandez will face Schneider, ranked thirteenth in the world and third in the tournament, after the Russian defeated Slovakian Mia Bohankova (18 years old) with a score of 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in the other semi-final.
Fernandez attributed her success during this year's Asian tour to "the desire to work."
“I am proud of my mental toughness,” said the 24-year-old, who reached the US Open final in 2021.
She added: “These matches are not easy, so I am happy that I was able to find solutions and maintain my calm in difficult moments.”
Fernandez had qualified for the semi-finals after Rybakina withdrew from their confrontation due to a neck injury, one day after she had ensured that she finished the year at the top of the world rankings.
Rybakina is one of several players who withdrew from the tournament in Tokyo, which is held in the final stages of the tennis season.
Fernandez said her team decided to play as many matches as possible after the US Open in September, where they were eliminated in the third round.
She added: “We all agreed that what I need most is matches, and to go through these difficult confrontations and uncomfortable moments, and to be strong during them.”
She continued: “We can train as we want, but we will not be able to simulate those difficult moments in training.”
For her part, Schneider is seeking to win her first title this year after surpassing Bohankova, the former Wimbledon junior women's champion.
Schneider (22 years old), who defeated Filipino Alexandra Ayala in the quarter-finals, said: “The work never stops.”
She added: “I prepared well for the Asian tour from a physical standpoint.”
She concluded: “Yesterday’s match was very difficult, and today I was happy because I was able to push myself to do more again.”
English club Aston Villa announced its intention to take legal action against Jamie Carragher, an analyst for Sky Sports, against the backdrop of what the club described as “unacceptable insults against the club and its fans.”
In a statement issued late on Friday evening, Egyptian Nassef Sawiris, co-owner of Aston Villa, revealed plans to sue Carragher over his statements during the “Stick to Football” podcast.
Carragher angered Aston Villa's management and fans after he asked them to "shut up", using an obscene word, in the context of his talk about the possibility of team coach Unai Emery moving to Manchester United.
Aston Villa said in a statement: “Aston Villa will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults against the club and its fans.”
The statement added: “Aston Villa will not allow anyone to stop our rise in English and European football.” The statement was signed by Nassef Sawiris in his capacity as Chairman of the Club’s Board of Directors.
Carragher was comparing the sizes of clubs and their position in football, during a discussion he had with fellow analysts Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Roy Keane.
Emery's name has been linked to the possibility of taking over as coach of Manchester United if Michael Carrick leaves his position as coach of the team. Carragher said: “I think Unai Emery is an amazing coach in what he does year after year. There are a great deal of changes, and new players need time to adapt, yet he succeeds in dealing with these circumstances season after season.”
He added: “But the reason I return to talking about Aston Villa fans is that I cannot understand their position. We are talking about a coach who has achieved great success in the Europa League... Let's take an example: if you have won the Europa League 3 or 4 times (Emery has won it 5 times), then surely you will want to compete for the Champions League.”
He continued: “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United. “I think that Emery did not achieve great success with Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal, and this may be due to the inflated ego of some players inside the locker room, and things like that.”
He continued: “But it is certain that he would like to have another opportunity to coach a giant club. “There is a hierarchy in football, whether you like it or not.”
Carragher concluded his statements by saying: “There are clubs that are lower in rank than Aston Villa, and bigger clubs will come to take their players or coach. So, shut up, Aston Villa fans,” he said, using an obscene English word in his original phrase to emphasize his position.
Veteran American tennis player Venus Williams lost in the semi-final match, and this is her first loss in this round in the last eight years.
Williams (46 years old) and her Indonesian partner, Janis Tin, lost to Uzbek Polina Kudermetova and Russian Maria Timofeeva, 6-4, 6-7, 10-6, in the semi-finals of the doubles tournament in the Guangzhou Open on Saturday.
This was the first semi-final match, in a tournament affiliated with the World Tennis Association, in which Williams participated since the 2016 Rio Olympics and Wimbledon, and it is the first semi-final match in general on the tour since 2018 when she reached this round in Indian Wells.
Williams received a wild card to participate in the singles and doubles competitions in the 250-point Guangzhou tournament.
Williams lost to young Swiss woman Lily Tajer 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the singles competition.
It is noteworthy that Tajer (18 years old) was born in 2008, the same year in which Williams won her seventh and final title in the four major tournaments (Grand Slam), and that was in the singles competition at Wimbledon.
Williams, ranked 599 in the world, was playing her first singles match in two months, specifically since her participation in the US Open, where she lost to American Sofia Kenin in the first round.
Williams has lost 16 consecutive singles matches on tour since July 2025.
