The question was never if, it was always when Leylah Annie Fernandez would break out and make noise at a Grand Slam tournament. Friday, under the brightest lights and on tennis' biggest stage, Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, she did just that. The 18-year-old Quebecois upset defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round of the U.S. Open 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4.
"I guess I wanted to stay on court a little bit longer and one hour was not enough for me on court," she said during her postmatch on-court interview with ESPN's Mary Joe Fernandez.
The left-handed Fernandez flustered Osaka throughout the match, including a tough first set that saw the two go toe-to-toe for the first 10 games before Osaka — Fernandez's elder by just five years — broke through to take it. But Fernandez, a fierce and feisty competitor, battled back. After Osaka broke Fernandez in the 11th game of the second set, she returned the favour to set up a tiebreaker. She went on to rattle off the first five points before closing it out at 7-2.
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"Even a break down in the second set, or even in the first set, I still believed," Fernandez said at her press conference. "I still told myself that I'm closer and closer to finding a solution, that I will get that break opportunity, I will have that moment in hand. I'm just glad that I had it and I took it and ran away with it."
During that tiebreak, Osaka began to show her frustrations as she bounced her racquet across her side of the court after missing a forehand wide. She luckily did not receive even a warning from chair umpire Alison Hughes. The throw came after she had already taken her frustrations out on her racquet.
Naomi Osaka, normally very stoic, throws her racquet after missing a forehand. No code violation but she lost the tiebreak to Fernandez pic.twitter.com/o8ZsVL8osM
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) September 4, 2021
"Honestly, I wasn't focusing on Naomi, I was only focusing on myself and what I needed to do," Fernandez said on-court when asked what was going through her mind as Osaka lost her composure and also took a bathroom break.
Indeed, because Fernandez started the third with an easy break before holding serve to go up 2-0. The duo then traded holds before Fernandez won four straight points in the 10th game to complete the upset.
"From the very beginning, right before the match, I knew I was able to win," she confidently told ESPN's Fernandez.
This season has seen Fernandez's talent, gutsy shots and spunk on the tour rise. In March, the Laval, Que., native won her first career title at the Monterrey Open. Friday night's win marked Fernandez’s first against a top-three opponent and sent her into the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career; her previous best was the Round of 32 at Roland Garros in 2020.
"I don't know why finally my game is clicking," she said in her postgame press conference. "The past few months, even after Monterrey, I've been working hard, training super well. My coach, my dad, is saying be patient, have confidence in your game, it will show in matches. I'm glad it finally did."
Ranked 73rd in the world, Fernandez will next play No. 16 seed Angelique Kerber in the Round of 16. The pair have never faced off.