The only 19 year old tennis player Leylah Fernandez is completely surprising in the final of the US Open.
The Canadian, who had prevailed against Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka in the previous rounds, defeated Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus 7: 6 (7: 3), 4: 6, 6: 4 in the semi-finals on Thursday (local time) .
In the final on Saturday, Fernandez will meet either the 18-year-old British Emma Raducanu or Maria Sakkari from Greece. “It's years, years, years of hard work and tears and blood and everything. I really wanted to get into the final, ”said Fernandez. "I'm glad I'm in the final."
The teenager came under pressure early on in the entertaining encounter in New York, lost 12 of the first 14 points and was already 3-0 down after eight minutes. But after this nervous beginning, she improved and won the first set in the tiebreaker. Sabalenka, who was seeded in second position, got the break to 5: 4 in the second set and forced the decisive third set. There the young Canadian continued to delight the audience with her lively game and got a break at 4: 2, which Sabalenka immediately countered. Fernandez was not unsettled by this - and later used the first match ball to move into the final.