WHAT HAPPENED: In the game of “Can You Top This?” among the teen sensations who have turned the 2021 US Open into their own personal playground, 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez just threw down the latest gauntlet.
One day after turning 19, Fernandez continued the birthday celebration of a lifetime on tennis’ biggest stage on Tuesday afternoon, defeating No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, inside of Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to the women’s semifinals at the US Open. Fernandez is now the youngest woman to reach the final four in Flushing Meadows since 18-year-old Maria Sharapova did so in 2005.
Fernandez is two steps away from duplicating the feat of fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who herself was 19 when she captured the 2019 US Open women’s singles championship. On the same court later tonight, Montreal-born Felix Auger-Aliassime will have a chance to join Fernandez in the semifinals on the men’s side in his quarterfinal match.
Asked what is the cause of the strong Canadian showing on the tour, Fernandez—after almost two and a half hours on court—was able to find some humor amidst all of the emotions surely overcoming her.
“I would say it’s the maple syrup,” the affable Fernandez said during her on-court interview.
Maple syrup, the breakfast of (future?) champions. Got it!
A captivating 68-minute final set saw four breaks of serve, as well as Svitolina coming back from a 2-5 deficit to level the match at 5-all, epitomizing the back-and-forth thriller. Both held serve in their final service games to force the tiebreak, and Fernandez once again nosed out in front, taking a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak. Svitolina dug deep once more to level at 5-5, but then Fernandez produced the shot of the match, a running forehand winner from the baseline that clipped the top of the net before landing just inside the sideline to set up match point. Fernandez served out the match when Svitolina’s return went long, and the raucous crowd showered Fernandez with cheers as she crouched to the ground in pure joy and disbelief after match point.
“I honestly have no idea what I’m feeling right now,” Fernandez said during the on-court interview afterward. “I was so nervous...thank you so much to the crowd, cheering me on. You helped me push through today.”
Fernandez was sharp out of the gate. She dominated Svitolina by moving the ball from one corner of the court to another, polished off points at the net when given the opportunity, and dictated points seemingly at will. Though she only put in 47% of her first serves in the first set, Fernandez won 71% of those points behind her first serve, and she also won all eight of her points when coming to the net.
Svitolina found her game early in the second as she became more aggressive with her groundstrokes, yet was remarkably clean throughout the set in committing just four unforced errors. In the fourth game, Svitolina managed to break Fernandez for the first time in the match, going up 3-1. For good measure, Svitolina secured a double break two games later to increase her advantage to 5-1, and she needed that insurance as Fernandez roared back by winning two consecutive games before holding a break point to get back on serve. Svitolina avoided disaster by saving that break point with a forehand pass before putting the set to bed with an ace.
WHAT IT MEANS: Fernandez, along with 18-year-olds Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, have been in the minds and hearts of US Open spectators—in person and otherwise—from the end of the first week of the tournament and, with each victory in New York, continue to gain more fans worldwide. Fernandez and Alcaraz did a photo shoot together on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center earlier in the tournament, and Fernandez said she got the chance to ask him then about how he felt about winning at the US Open for the first time.
“It's so fun to see all of us being so happy and having fun on the court,” Fernandez said about the crop of teens taking center stage at the US Open. “Honestly, I think it just motivates us to do even more. We want to make something special out of this tournament.”
That you have, Leylah et al.
After already defeating Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber this fortnight, Fernandez will now take on No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals on Thursday. Sabalenka defeated No. 8 seed Barbora Krejcikova—the 2021 champion at Roland Garros—6-1, 6-4, in the other women’s quarterfinal match played on Tuesday.
For Svitolina, the loss is another bitter one for a player still looking to reach her first Grand Slam final, and she falls to 2-6 in quarterfinal matches at the four major tournaments in her career. However, the Ukrainian has still had a scintillating summer to remember, from winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics to capturing the title in the US Open lead-up event in Chicago to, of course, tying the knot with Gael Monfils in July.
MATCH POINT: Each of Fernandez’s opponents during her run to the semifinals at the 2021 US Open has reached the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows on at least one occasion: Ana Konjuh (2016), Kaia Kanepi (2010, 2017), Osaka (2018 and 2020 US Open champion), Kerber (2016 US Open champion) and Svitolina (2019 US Open semifinalist). Now that Fernandez is a newly-minted semifinalist, the sky may very well be the limit for the Canadian.
