Shnaider bags Pan Pacific crown

TOKYO — Russia’s Diana Shnaider won her first title of the year with a hard-fought victory over Leylah Fernandez in Tokyo yesterday and couldn’t wait to tell her mum all about it.

The world No. 13 beat Canada’s Fernandez 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to win the Pan Pacific Open and then went straight to her phone to call home.

“I was calling my mum – I wanted to hear her voice after winning a title and share a first few moments with her,” the 22-year-old Shnaider said.

“She said ‘you’ve just finished and already you’re calling me’.”

It was Shnaider’s first title since Monterrey in August last year and the sixth of her career.

“It was definitely a tight match,” Shnaider said. “It makes me even more happy that I was able to fight for the title and in the end win it.”