US Open: No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka knocked out in semis by unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez

Leylah Fernandez received her first Grand Slam semi-final simply days after her nineteenth birthday on the US Open towards No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka. Whereas the match didn’t appear to be going her method at first, the Canadian qualifier didn’t permit it to get to her and ended up profitable the match 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 on Thursday night time in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Fernandez recovered from dropping the preliminary three video games to take a lead, earlier than Sabalenka pushed a match full of momentum swings to a back-and-forth third set. It doesn’t matter what, Fernandez didn’t fear. Did not waver.

And why would she at this level? The Canadian’s poise, it appears, is as limitless as her potential. And no foe, regardless of how achieved or extremely ranked, poses an insurmountable downside.

It was the 73rd-ranked Fernandez’s fourth consecutive three-set victory over a seeded opponent. First got here No. 3 Naomi Osaka, the 2018 and 2020 US Open champion. Then got here No. 16 Angelique Kerber, the 2016 champ. That was adopted by No. 5 Elina Svitolina and Sabalenka.

“That is years and years and years of onerous work and tears and blood,” mentioned Fernandez, who may give Canada its second U.S. Open girls’s title in fast succession, following Bianca Andreescu’s triumph in 2019. “Every little thing. On courtroom, off courtroom. Sacrifices.”

Fernandez was born in Montreal to an Ecuadorian father — who can also be her coach, though he’s not along with her in New York, as a substitute providing teaching suggestions in each day cellphone conversations — and a Filipino Canadian mom. The household now lives in Florida.

In Saturday’s remaining, the left-handed Fernandez will face both one other unseeded teen, 18-year-old qualifier Emma Raducanu of Britain, or Seventeenth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece. Neither of them has participated in a Grand Slam title match, both.

On the finish of the primary set and within the third, it was Sabalenka, a Wimbledon semifinalist in July, who let issues get away from her. Within the final sport, she double-faulted twice in a row to arrange match level, then sailed a forehand lengthy.

Fernandez collapsed to the courtroom and put her arms to her face.

Practically 2 1/2 hours earlier than that, it was Sabalenka who seemed in management, claiming 12 of the primary 14 factors for a 3-0 lead. Simply eight minutes had elapsed and most spectators have been but to succeed in their seats. Not till later did the 20,000-plus within the stands rally the fist-aloft Fernandez with chants of “Let’s go, Leylah! Let’s go!” accompanied by rhythmic clapping.

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