Canadian teen Leylah Fernandez has continued her US Open dream run by storming into her first Grand Slam semi-final, with a battling 6-3 3-6 7-6(5) win over Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina.
The upset win was hardly a shock, considering Fernandez had already knocked out four-time major champion Naomi Osaka in the third round and three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber in the fourth.
If there was any lingering worry that the fearless Canadian might buckle under the mounting pressure, Fernandez removed it in a nerve-jangling third-set tiebreak 7-5 to clinch a spot in the last four.
Rated one of the best players yet to win a major, Svitolina may have fancied her chances of returning to the US Open semi-finals against a 73rd-ranked teen.
But Fernandez, who celebrated her 19th birthday just 24 hours before, has shown she is no ordinary teenager, with a string of upsets that have made her a Flushing Meadows darling.
"I would say it's the maple syrup," says Fernandez, when asked what they were feeding them up north to make the Canadians perform so well at the US Open.
The confident Canadian has played to the raucous crowd, using their energy to help fuel a charge into the last eight and the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was once again in her corner on Tuesday.
In a US Open hit big-name withdrawals, young talents such as Fernandez and 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu have stepped up to grab the spotlight in the absence of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams.
Raducanu will get her chance to follow Fernandez into the semi-finals, when she takes on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, but until then, the charismatic Canadian is stealing all the attention with her brash, gutsy play.
"If you haven't seen the most exciting player at the US Open, 19-year old Leylah Fernandez, you're truly missing out!!" tweets NBA great Magic Johnson. "She... is on fire. She's captivating the world!"
Svitolina came into the contest riding a nine-match winning streak and she had not dropped a set en route to the quarter-finals - Fernandez ended both runs.
The Canadian lefthander had Svitolina off-balance from the start, denying the 26-year-old a single break opportunity as she bagged the opening set.
Playing with more aggression, Svitolina had her chances in the second set, as she broke Fernandez twice to build a 5-1 advantage, but the Ukrainian was still made to work for the set, with Fernandez breaking back and threatening a second break, before Svitolina would close out with an ace to level the match.
Fernandez remained unfazed, getting a break in the third to go in front 4-2, before urging the crowd to respond to her effort, which they did with a mighty roar.
Down 5-3 and with Fernandez serving for the match, Svitolina showed fighting spirit of her own to break the Canadian and then held serve to get back on level terms.
With the contest stretched into a deciding tiebreak, Svitolina might have been better equipped to handle the incredible pressure, but again, Fernandez was rock solid, as she pulled off another upset victory.
Reuters.
