Leylah Fernandez continues remarkable winning run to reach the semi-finals against Aryna Sabalenka, while Daniil Medvedev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the men's semis; Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares join Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram in the last four of the doubles
Wednesday 8 September 2021 07:09, UK
Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez continued her stunning giant-killing run at the US Open to set up a semi-final meeting against second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Fernandez, who turned 19 on Monday, had already taken out two former champions in Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber and she added fifth seed Elina Svitolina to the list to become the youngest semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows since Maria Sharapova.
She has demonstrated ferocious ball striking, immense athleticism and a tremendous competitive zeal in her run, and it was the same here, Fernandez failing to serve out the match but coming through in a tie-break for a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5) victory.
It was another sensational match at a tournament that keeps hitting new heights, and Fernandez said: "I honestly have no idea what I'm feeling right now. Throughout the whole match I was so nervous.
"I was trying to do what my coach told me to do. Thanks to the New York crowd, cheering me on, fighting for me and never giving up, I was able to push through today.
"Svitolina, she's a great player, she fought for everything, she runs for everything. I'm honoured to have a fight with her. I just told myself to trust my shots, trust that everything's going to go well. Even if I lose, I've got to go for it, and I'm glad I did."
The young Canadian will next face second seed Sabalenka, who swept aside a below-par Barbora Krejcikova.
French Open champion Krejcikova had to be helped off court following her tense quarter-final win over Garbine Muguruza and was clearly struggling with her fitness as she bowed out 6-1 6-4.
Sabalenka, also a semi-finalist at Wimbledon this year, said: "It means a lot. The US Open is one of my favourite slams and I'm really enjoying my game here."
Daniil Medvedev ended the run of qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp to reach the semi-finals for a third straight year.
Medvedev had romped through his first four matches, spending less than eight hours on court compared to more than 13 for Van de Zandschulp, who was looking to become the first qualifier to reach the men's semi-finals in New York.
But it was the Russian second seed who came through 6-3 6-0 4-6 7-5.
In his on-court interview, Medvedev praised his opponent, saying: "It's an amazing run. Coming from qualies to make quarters. Also, he played so many tough matches and today he was able still to come back and in the fourth set anything could happen.
"Amazing level from him in the third and fourth sets. If he continues to play like this he's going to be top 30, top 50 minimum. Hopefully he can continue this way.
"First two sets he was missing, I was kind of controlling the game. He started missing less, putting more power, being more aggressive. It started to be much tougher for me and I'm happy with my game in the fourth set."
Medvedev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who became the first Canadian man to reach the semi-finals.
Auger-Aliassime was a set and a break up on Carlos Alcaraz when the Spanish teenager retired injured.
"I don't know what happened clearly. It's unfortunate, I thought we were putting on a good show," said Auger-Aliassime.
"It's an amazing milestone, it's been a fantastic tournament for me. It's a weird ending but OK, in the end I'm through to play one of the best players in the world on Friday."
Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram saved four match points to reach the semi-finals of the men's doubles in dramatic fashion.
Londoner Salisbury and American Ram found themselves in a deciding tie-break for a second successive match and eventually prevailed 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (12-10) over Australian duo Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.
Salisbury and Ram have shown tremendous consistency at the Grand Slams and this is the fifth time in the last seven major tournaments that they have reached at least the semi-finals.
They will now look to convert that into a second Slam title after victory at the 2020 Australian Open.
Later Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares joined Salisbury and Ram in the last four.
Scot Murray and Soares, the 2016 champions, recovered from dropping the first set to beat second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4 and book a meeting with Filip Polasek and John Peers.
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