No. 3 seed Diana Shnaider appeared to be cruising toward her first title of the season after building a 6-4, 4-0 lead against Leylah Fernandez in the Toray Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo on Sunday.

But that's when things got complicate for the 22-year-old. Fernandez mounted a spirited comeback, winning seven of the next eight games to take the second set 7-5 and force a decider.

Fernandez carried that momentum into the third set, holding serve before earning three break points on Shnaider's serve. However, Shnaider saved all three to level the set at 1-1. After the players exchanged holds, Shnaider broke serve in the fifth game and won the next three games to close out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 18 minutes.

After a season-long race, the world's top players converge in the California desert with the WTA's biggest title still to be won.

The victory marks Shnaider's first title of the season and the sixth of her career.