• Raducanu The adolescent with an honorary degree and unusual origin who amazes at the US Open

Britain's

Emma Raducanu

and Canadian

Leylah Fernández

, the two new jewels of tennis, completed their meteoric journey to the US Open final on Thursday, the first of a Grand Slam among under-20s since 1999.

The two audacious young women had marveled throughout the tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, and on Thursday, one step away from the grand finale, neither of them felt a pulse.

Raducanu, 18, swept Greece's

Maria Sakkari

in the semifinals to

become the first Grand Slam finalist starting from the qualifying round.

Fernández, at the age of 19 on Monday, left the world number two, the Belarusian

Aryna Sabalenka

, on the

road

.

Serena and Hingis

"Now I can say that I have done a good job to achieve my dreams," said a beaming Fernández, daughter of a former Ecuadorian soccer player, before the fervor of the New York public, who have adopted the two teenagers as favorites.

New York will host the first final of a major tournament for under-20s on Saturday since

Serena Williams

(17) beat

Martina Hingis

(18) at the 1999 US Open.

Fernández, who has beaten three members of the WTA top-5, and Raducanu, the youngest Grand Slam finalist since 2004, have been the great revelation of this US Open, knocking down the door of the tennis elite for a new and mestizo generation born in this century.

Danielle ParhizkaranUSA TODAY Sports

"I'm in the final and the truth is that I can't believe it," said an astonished Raducanu, who has swept his nine tournament opponents without conceding a single set.

Exotic origins

"I wanted to be playing Grand Slam tournaments but I did not know it would be so soon," he admitted to the media.

"Playing a Grand Slam final at this point in my career ... I have no words."

The British, number 150 in the world ranking, was victimized on Thursday by the brave Maria Sakkari, number 18, whom she overwhelmed 6-1 and 6-4 in an hour and 23 minutes.

Born to a Chinese mother and a Romanian father, Raducanu has struck numerous marks of precocity in just his second major tournament.

His first appearance was in June at the last Wimbledon, before his public, where he reached the round of 16 and became a new face of the sport of his country.

At

Flushing Meadows

, where she has played nine games in 16 days, Raducanu has taken off to become the youngest Grand Slam finalist since

Maria Sharapova

in 2004 at the age of 17.

Born in Canada and raised from the age of two in London, Raducanu will have the opportunity to be the first Briton to win a Grand Slam title since

Virginia Wade

at Wimbledon in 1977.

"Honestly, today I was not thinking of anyone else, except myself," said the British, who said she did not feel any giddiness about expectations for Saturday.

"I come from the qualifying phase, technically I have no pressure," he said with a smile.

"Tears, blood and sacrifices"

For his part, Leylah Fernández could not be stopped on Thursday by Sabalenka, who won 7-6 (7-3), 4-6 and 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes of play.

Starting at number 73 in the world rankings, Fernández is the first to eliminate three members of the top-5 -

Sabalenka, Osaka and Elina Svitolina

- in a Grand Slam since Serena Williams in 2012. "I have no idea" how I won, said the Canadian, thanking the public for their support.

"They are years and years of work, tears, blood and sacrifices. And of leaving everything on the track. I wanted to be in the final," stressed Fernández, who was trained since she was a child by her father Jorge, who did not travel to New York but He has continued to send him instructions from his home in Florida.

Sabalenka, in his second lost Grand Slam semifinal, started like a cyclone and, at 6-5, he had a set ball but Fernández again exhibited his coolness to take his sleeve in the tiebreaker.

Also eliminated in the semifinals of last Wimbledon, Sabalenka resisted the poisoned game of the Canadian and the public against to stay with the second set.

In the third set, the nerves betrayed Sabalenka until losing the service in the last game and succumbing to the push of the emerging figure.

This Friday the men's semifinals of the US Open will be played, with Serbian

Novak Djokovic

crashing against German

Alexander Zverev

and Russian

Daniil Medvedev

against young Canadian

Félix Auger-Aliassime

.

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