Doha: Canadian tennis star Leylah Fernandez has advanced to the final of the Japan Women's Open after defeating Romania's Sorana Cirstea in a three-set semifinal battle on Saturday. Fernandez, the tournament's fourth seed, claimed the win with a scoreline of 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. In Sunday's final, Fernandez will face Czech rising star Tereza Valentova, who secured her spot in the championship match with a hard-fought victory over Romania's Jaqueline Cristian, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. According to Qatar News Agency, Cristian had reached the semifinals after her quarterfinal opponent, Japan's Naomi Osaka, was forced to withdraw on Friday due to a left leg injury, granting the Romanian a walkover into the last four. Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist, has now reached the eighth WTA final of her career. This marks her second semifinal appearance of the season, the first being at the WTA 500 event in Washington, where she defeated Russia's Anna Kalinskaya to claim her fourth career singles title.