WASHINGTON (AP) — Alejandro Davidovich Fokina broke big-serving Ben Shelton a half-dozen times and eliminated the No. 4 seed by a 6-2, 7-5 score in the D.C. Open semifinals Saturday to follow up his upset of No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz a night earlier.
The 12th-seeded Davidovich Fokina, a 26-year-old from Spain, will face No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur on Sunday for the title at the hard-court tournament. De Minaur advanced to his second Washington final by beating Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-3.
Davidovich Fokina will be seeking his first ATP trophy in his fourth career final. No matter the outcome, he has guaranteed himself a debut in the top 20 of the rankings after arriving in D.C. at No. 26.
The semifinal win was de Minaur’s 20th victory on a hard court in 2025, the most on the ATP tour. The Australian, who is 13th in the rankings, moved into his 19th career final; he’s 9-9 so far. One of the runner-up finishes came against Alexander Zverev at Washington in 2018.
In the women's bracket, Leylah Fernandez will be trying to win her first WTA title of the season, and Anna Kalinskaya will seek the first of her career when they meet each other Sunday.
Fernandez, the runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Open, hit 12 aces and picked up her second victory of the week against a top-20 opponent by beating 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) across 3 hours, 16 minutes in the semifinals.
Kalinskaya needed less than half as much time to eliminate Emma Raducanu 6-4, 6-3 with the help of 14 backhand winners in the other women's semifinal. It was Raducanu who defeated Fernandez for the championship at Flushing Meadows four years ago.
Both women's finalists are unseeded. Canada's Fernandez, who is 22 years old, is ranked 36th; Russia's Kalinskaya, 26, is ranked 48th.
Kalinskaya moved into her third tour-level final. She went 0-2 in title matches last season.
Fernandez, who got past top-seeded Jessica Pegula earlier in the week, owns three titles. Sunday's matchup will be her seventh career final.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, returns the ball against Jessica Pegula during a match at the Citi Open tennis tournament Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Ben Shelton reacts during a match against Gabriel Diallo, of Canada, at the Citi Open tennis tournament Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, returns the ball against Jessica Pegula during a match at the Citi Open tennis tournament Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Open's first formal opening ceremony became the Roger Federer show on the eve of the season-opening major.
There was Crowded House, the band, playing a set of four hits. There was a full house — a capacity crowd in the 15,000-seat stadium.
Rod Laver, the great Australian player of Grand Slam fame, was in the house. The 87-year-old Aussie was sitting courtside in Rod Laver Arena, the center court at Melbourne Park named in his honor.
Federer, the six-time Australian Open winner and 20-time Grand Slam champion, partnered past champions Andre Agassi and then Ash Barty in an exhibition doubles match against Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt as the main feature of the program.
It went to script, with Federer winning the first point despite framing a forehand and then emphatically finishing off the victory with a leaping overhead winner.
Novak Djokovic, who has won 10 Australian titles among his record 24 major championships, was there to watch.
The Australian Open main draw singles competitions start Sunday. Djokovic plays his opening match on Monday.
Australian Open organizers turned the 2026 edition into a three-week festival of tennis, with 217,999 fans attending across six days to watch exhibitions, qualifying and the 1 Point Slam before the main draw started.
Federer was back in Australia for the first time since 2021, making the trip now because he retired from competitive tennis before he could do a farewell season tour.
“It really truly means so much to me when people like Rocket (Laver) show up,” Federer said. “It’s super important to be grateful” to earlier generations of stars.
Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts with partner Ash Barty of Australia in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Rod Laver, centre, waves ahead of a doubles match between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andre Agassi of the United States, left, and Lleyton Hewitt, right, and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andre Agassi, right, of the United States react in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Novak Djokovic, right, of Serbia embraces Roger Federer of Switzerland during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts with partner Andre Agassi, left, of the United States in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
