Canadian Leylah Fernández, 73 of the world, maintained her triumphant streak at the US Open by beating Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, fifth, 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6 (5) on Tuesday favorite, and became the first semifinalist of the U.S. Open.
Fernández, who turned 19 on Monday, managed to eliminate the third tennis player who had reached the main table among the favorites, after having done so with the defending champion the Japanese Naomi Osaka, third seed, already l German Angelique Kerber, sixteenth and winner of the Open in 2016.
Fernández, of Ecuadorian father and Filipino Canadian mother, re-imposed his aggressive tennis and with his left-handed strokes, he overcame at all times Svitolina, 27, who was looking to play in his second semifinals of the Open , who played in 2019. But she met Fernández, who never let her have the pace of play and was always forced in the face of the aggressiveness of her rival who ended the match with 42 forced shots for 31 unforced errors .
Still Fernandez barely placed an ace and committed five double fouls the 19 points he scored in the 24 uploads to the net were decisive. Fernández, who is playing his second Open, in the two hours and 24 minutes that the match lasted, had fewer total points earned than Svitolina, but he got the decisive ones. Against Osaka and Kerber start the games with the loss of the first set.
Although in the third he missed a 5-2 advantage to allow Svitolina to get back into the game with three consecutive games he won, Fernandez again showed great mental maturity and responded with his best tennis. under pressure as happened to him in the tiebreaker.
Also with a 4-2 advantage allowed Svitolina to put the tie at 5-5 and service of the Ukrainian, but Fernandez made the break for the first ball of the game and with the service in his power to sentence another great victory achieved at the Arthur Ashe Stadium central court, with over 20,000 spectators who completely surrendered to their game and tireless struggle.
EFE