On day nine of the ongoing US Open it was the 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez who continued her fairytale run at New York as she entered her first major semi-finals. The world number two Aryna Sabalenka also cruised into the last four at the Flushing Meadows.
Fernandez cruised past Tokyo bronze medalist Elina Svitolina, the world number 5, by 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) thriller. For the third straight match, the Canadian won the third set against a card-carrying member of the WTA's elite.
The result is Fernandez's third career Top 5 win, two of which have come this fortnight. She is the third Canadian to make the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows following Carling Bassett-Seguso in 1984 and 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu, and she is also the youngest US Open semifinalist since an 18-year-old Maria Sharapova in 2005, as per wtstennis.com.
In another women's quarter-final of the day, the number two seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus swept into her second Grand Slam semi-final in a row by defeating No.8 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4, under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sabalenka dispatched this year's Roland Garros champion Krejcikova in every dominating fashion, and thus guaranteeing a first-time Grand Slam champion at this year's US Open.
In the semi-finals, Sabalenka will take on the Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez. It will be the first meeting between Sabalenka and Fernandez.
( With inputs from ANI )
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