Arthur Ashe Stadium saw plenty of one-handed fists in the sky on Tuesday afternoon, as Leylah Annie Fernandez not only punched the air a number of times on big points, but also punched her ticket to the 2021 U.S. Open semifinals.
"I honestly have no idea what I'm feeling right now," Fernandez said during her post-match on-court interview. "Throughout the whole match, I was so nervous. I was trying to do what my coach told me to do."
Her coach, father Jorge Fernandez, is watching from Florida but has surely laid out stellar game plans from afar. En route to the quarterfinals, Leylah Fernandez sent packing both defending champ Naomi Osaka (in the third round) and 2016 winner Angelique Kerber (in the Round of 16). Then, the day after she turned 19, the Canadian knocked out No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina in a three-set showdown: She won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) to advance to her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.
"He told me to go out there, have fun, fight for every ball, fight for every point, today's your first quarterfinals, don't make it your last, don't make it your last match over here. Fight for your dream," she said.
Things started out well for the left-hander from Laval, Que. She won the first set 6-3 after breaking Svitolina to go up 4-2, thanks in part to 13 winners and just 11 unforced errors. Svitolina, by comparison, had two winners to 11 unforced errors.
In the second set, the Ukrainian fought back. The pair traded holds before Svitolina broke Fernandez to go up 3-1, and then 5-2. Fernandez tried to keep it close with her whipping forehands and strong shot placement, but Svitolina only made four unforced errors and dominated the stat line across the board.
With things split down the middle, it came to a decisive third set that — of course — went to a tiebreak. The Canadian did have her chances, however, as she went up 5-2 and 6-5 but couldn't close things out. It was another nail-biter in the tiebreak:
| Server | Action | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Fernandez | Svitolina sends the forehand wide | 1-0 Fernandez |
| Svitolina | Fernandez return goes into the net | 1-1 |
| Svitolina | Fernandez forehand return down the line | 2-1 Fernandez |
| Fernandez | Svitolina backhander into the net | 3-1 Fernandez |
| Fernandez | Svitolina sails backhander way wide | 4-1 Fernandez |
| Svitolina | Fernandez forehand wide | 4-2 Fernandez |
| Svitolina | Svitolina ace | 4-3 Fernandez |
| Fernandez | Fernandez hits the ball into the net | 4-4 |
| Fernandez | After a long rally, Svitolina forehand into the net | 5-4 Fernandez |
| Svitolina | Fernandez can't return the serve | 5-5 |
| Svitolina | Running forehand down the line clips the net and goes in | 6-5 Fernandez |
| Fernandez | Svitolina's return goes long | 7-5 Fernandez |
Fernandez is now just the third Canadian woman to reach the U.S. Open semifinals in the Open Era, joining Carling Bassett-Seguso (1984) and Bianca Andreescu (2019). Andreescu, who became the first Canadian, man or woman, to win a Grand Slam title, ended her 2021 run Monday in a three-set battle with Maria Sakkari that didn't end till after 2 a.m. ET.
Fernandez's two wins against Osaka and Kerber marked the first time two former world No. 1s were knocked out by the same person at the U.S. Open since 1975. Fernandez also now holds the honor of being the youngest player to beat two top-five players (Svitolina and Osaka) since Serena Williams at the 1999 U.S. Open.
Not bad company for the rising star, who provided a perfectly Canadian response when asked post-match what they're feeding players in Canada to produce players such as herself and Félix Auger-Aliassime, who earned a semifinal spot after his opponent, Carlos Alcaraz retired:
"I would say it's the maple syrup," she replied.
Fernandez will next play world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka who defeated 2021 French Open champ Barbora Krejcikova, 6-1, 6-4. The dup will face off on Thursday.