The teenage revolution at the US Open already has a representative in the semifinals: Leylah Fernández, who could be joined by Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, 18. The 19-year-old Canadian on Monday beat Elina Svitolina in an exciting match that fell to the Spanish-speaking side 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6 (5) in 2:24. She is the youngest semifinalist in the tournament since Maria Sharapova (18) in 2005. On Thursday she will face the winner of the duel that measures Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka against Czech Barbora Krejcikova.
Born in Montreal, Leylah is the daughter of an Ecuadorian soccer player, Jorge Fernández, who moved there and married a Canadian of Filipino origin, Irene. His father could not travel to New York, but he gives him advice every day, because he is part of his technical team. “He said, ‘Get out there and enjoy yourself. It’s your first quarterfinal match of a Grand Slam, don’t make it your last, ‘”said the world number 73, who had participated in six majors between 2020 and 2021 and who exploded this year with her title in Monterrey, precisely where he had lost last year against Svitolina. He also excelled in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers with his country, in which he won both singles matches against Serbia.
This Tuesday she made a great game and was not daunted when her rival went with everything to try to knock her down, saved the furniture with 5-4 against the rest and put the final tiebreaker very hard. Leylah endured the pull and closed the most important triumph of his short career with the serve. It will have to be taken into account, especially after eliminating two winners of three Grand Slams before. like Japan’s Osaka and Germany’s Kerber, after coming back from 0-1.
Results, table and schedules.