If you skipped the Singapore Tennis Open presented by BNP Paribas last week, you missed a champion who nearly never came to Singapore. Leylah Fernandez asked for a wild card after a visa problem wrecked her schedule, then left OCBC Arena at The Kallang with the trophy on Sunday, 27 September 2026.
Singapore Moved Up a Division
2026 was the tournament’s first year as a WTA 500, a step up from the WTA 250 level it held when it returned in 2025 (the WTA is the Women’s Tennis Association, which runs the women’s pro tour). It is now Southeast Asia’s only event at that tier. Organisers committed US$1,206,446 in prize money across a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw, running from 21 to 27 September.
The upgrade brought a serious field to Kallang. Top seed Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old world No. 5 and reigning Roland-Garros champion, came chasing a spot at the season-ending WTA Finals. Second seed Amanda Anisimova withdrew before playing because of a left wrist injury. Even so, the bracket held enough names that a fan in Singapore could watch a reigning Grand Slam champion without boarding a plane!
The Wild Card Nobody Planned For
Fernandez is a Canadian left-hander who reached the 2021 US Open final and arrived ranked world No. 31. She was meant to play São Paulo that week, but visa trouble kept her from reaching Brazil in time. Her team contacted the Singapore organisers, “begging for a wildcard”, as she put it, and they said yes.
Nothing about her week came easily. Her opener against Japanese qualifier Kyoka Okamura lasted two hours and 20 minutes, and Fernandez saved 11 of the 13 break points she faced. She then beat American Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-3. Next came Andreeva, whom she beat 6-2, 7-5 to go 3-2 up in their head-to-head record.
Asked about the atmosphere, she described stands full of “grandparents, parents, kids, young kids, babies” watching together. Tour players say plenty of polite things about host cities, but that detail is specific enough to take at face value.
Nearly Swept, Then Rescued
Saturday’s semifinal against fifth seed Maja Chwalinska looked finished early. Chwalinska is the Polish lefty who reached this year’s French Open final from qualifying. She took the first set 6-1, and Fernandez didn’t win a game until the sixth.
That lone game turned things around. “I heard the cheers, and I was like, OK, they’re not going to give up on me, so let me not give up on them either,” Fernandez said afterwards. She found her rhythm, shortened the points, came forward more often, and won 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. The third set alone ran past 50 minutes.
Chwalinska’s week deserves its own credit. She beat Rebecca Sramkova, dropped one game against Oleksandra Oliynykova, and crushed defending champion Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-2 for her first career win over a Top 20 player. Our earlier roundup on how the opening upsets unfolded covers her first match in Singapore. She left with a promise: “I will come back next year.”
Talia Gibson Arrives
The other finalist is the name to remember. Talia Gibson is a 22-year-old Australian who only cracked the Top 100 in March, and she came to Singapore unseeded. This was her first week winning matches at WTA 500 level.
In the quarterfinals she upset No. 7 seed Maria Sakkari, a former Top 10 player, in three sets while landing 78% of her first serves. “I think that’s some of the best tennis I’ve ever played,” Gibson said. That’s a bold claim, but the numbers back it: she has now beaten a Top 50 player ten times this year, which suggests her ranking is lagging behind her level.
The Semifinal That Never Happened
Gibson’s path to the final had a painful twist. Her semifinal opponent was supposed to be Tatiana Prozorova, the world No. 180 who became the story of the tournament. She came back from a set and a break down against Sofia Costoulas, beat Alexandra Eala, and then outlasted Wang Xinyu 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in nearly three hours.
That reached her first tour-level semifinal after more than nine hours on court across three matches. Later that day, she retired from a doubles match and was withdrawn from the singles with a head injury, giving Gibson a walkover. Prozorova posted on Instagram that a WTA physiotherapist had pressured her to withdraw. The WTA said concussion protocols were followed to protect her health. Prozorova later clarified that organisers had backed her right to continue, but that the WTA made the final call.
It was a rough ending to the biggest week of her career, and fans lost a semifinal. With a head injury, though, caution is the right instinct, even when it hurts.
Sunday Belonged to Fernandez
The final was Gibson and Fernandez’s first meeting, and experience told. Fernandez won 7-5, 6-0 for her sixth WTA singles title and her second at WTA 500 level, after Washington last year. The second-set bagel stings, but Gibson leaves with her first tour-level final and a ranking climb well within reach. On the doubles side, China’s Tang Qianhui and Xu Yifan, who knocked out the top seeds, met Erin Rutliffe and Aldila Sudjiadi for the title.
The Kallang Off Court
The tennis was only half the week. Around the stadium, the Break Point Garden gave fans a shaded place to refuel between matches. Players turned up in unexpected places too: Sakkari met fans at Jewel Changi Airport, and Eala held a public Q&A at Gate 6 of the National Stadium.
Eala was even hand-delivered chicken rice, the poached-chicken hawker staple Singaporeans will defend to the end. It’s a small moment, but it’s exactly the kind of clip that travels further online than any trophy photo.
Sponsor BNP Paribas ran its Points for Change programme, turning every point played into a donation to Daughters of Tomorrow, a group that supports women from low-income families. That is a tidier use of a sponsorship than yet another banner.
Meet-and-greets like this one with France’s Kristina Mladenovic gave fans real time with players off court. For a young tournament still building a following, those moments may matter as much as the results.
🗓️ Date: 21 to 27 September 2026 (qualifying on 19 and 20 September)
📍 Location: OCBC Arena, The Kallang
🏆 Singles champion: Leylah Fernandez, def. Talia Gibson 7-5, 6-0
🎾 Draw: 28 singles players, 16 doubles teams
💰 Prize money commitment: US$1,206,446
A wild card who almost stayed home, a qualifier-level ranking that went nearly all the way, and a crowd one champion credited with saving her semifinal: Singapore’s first year as a WTA 500 delivered more drama than anyone in the draw predicted. Follow the Singapore Tennis Open on its official website, Instagram, and TikTok so you’re there for next year’s edition at The Kallang!
Photos and Visuals Courtesy of The Kallang.
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