Tennis: Fearless teenagers Fernandez, Raducanu a win away from glory

NEW YORK - Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu will clash in one of the most improbable U.S. Open finals on Saturday, the teenagers' fearless tennis bringing them to the cusp of becoming the sport's newest major champion.

Their title clash under the lights at the Arthur Ashe Stadium will be the first major final in the Open Era in either the men's and women's game to feature two unseeded players.

Canadian Fernandez, who turned 19 this week, was ranked 73rd coming into the hardcourt Grand Slam while 18-year-old Briton Raducanu was 150th in the women's rankings.

But with no burden of expectation on their shoulders, the duo have showcased a brand of fearless tennis at Flushing Meadows that has endeared them to the fans and helped them chart a path to the showpiece match.

"They are both young. They play fearless. They have nothing to lose playing against us," said Greek Maria Sakkari, who bowed out in the semi-finals with a straight-sets loss to qualifier Raducanu.

"I have to give credit to both of them, both of the young girls, that they take their chances. They're out there fighting for that title. Very well done to both for getting here."

Saturday's final will be the first tour-level meeting between them but the pair previously clashed in the second round of the 2018 Wimbledon juniors when Raducanu won 6-2 6-4.

It will also mark the first Grand Slam final to be contested by two teenagers since Serena Williams and Martina Hingis met in the 1999 U.S. Open title clash.

NATURAL GIFT

"With Raducanu and with Leylah Fernandez, they know how to win. They know how to stay calm in the most important moments," said Eurosport tennis expert and seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander.

"They have a natural gift of not panicking, and that's amazing. I can't even explain it."

The first British woman to reach a major final since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977, Raducanu can jump to 24th in the rankings with her first title while the left-handed Fernandez can make her top 20 debut by winning the U.S. Open.

The Briton has, however, had a less arduous path to the final. She has not dropped a set in her nine matches at Flushing Meadows to become the first qualifier - in men's and women's tennis - to reach a major final.

In contrast, Fernandez has had to conjure every ounce of her fighting spirit to move past the heavyweights of women's tennis and be in a position to give Canada its second U.S. Open women's title in three years after Bianca Andreescu's 2019 triumph.

The Canadian had to defeat three top-five players and a multiple major winner in her last four matches - all in three sets - to book her spot in the final.

"Raducanu and Fernandez play very similar in a way. If Fernandez was right-handed you wouldn't see much difference in their styles. They are pretty close in how they play," added Wilander. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Ken Ferris)

-reuters

US Open: Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez beats Elina Svitolina of Ukraine to book semis berth

Canadian 19-year-old left-hander Leylah Fernandez advanced to the US Open semifinals on Tuesday by defeating Ukraine's fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

Fernandez, ranked 73rd, will play her first Grand Slam semifinal against the winner of a later match between No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Czech eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning French Open champion.

It was yet another upset win for Fernandez, whose father is Ecuadorian and mother has Filipino roots, but hardly a shock considering she had already knocked out 4-time major champion Naomi Osaka in the third round and 3-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber in the fourth.

If there was any lingering worry that the fearless Canadian would buckle under the mounting pressure, Fernandez removed it by prevailing in a nerve-jangling third set tiebreak 7-5 to clinch a spot in the last four. 

Rated one of the best players yet to win a major, Svitolina might have fancied her chances of returning to the US Open semifinals against a 73rd-ranked teen.

But Fernandez, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Monday, has shown that she is no ordinary teenager after registering a string of upsets that have made her a Flushing Meadows darling. — With a report from Reuters

Agence France-Presse

Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez beats Naomi Osaka in shock upset at US open

NEW YORK— Two-time champion Naomi Osaka's U.S. Open title defense ended in tears on Friday, as she suffered a stunning defeat in the third round to Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez 5-7 7-6(2) 6-4, and told reporters she planned to take a break from the sport.

"I feel like I'm kind of at this point where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. Honestly I don't know when I'm going to play my next tennis match," she said, breaking down in tears at a post-match press conference and pulling the brim of her visor over her eyes.

"I think I'm going to take a break from playing for a while."

Playing in her first Grand Slam since pulling out of the French Open earlier this year and disclosing her battle with depression, Osaka's return to Flushing Meadows did not go to plan, as she wordlessly left the court after uncharacteristically losing her cool in the second set tiebreak.

The third seed whacked her racquet and then flung it onto the court twice in frustration as Fernandez scored five straight points in the tiebreak, in a series of superb play.

Osaka did not receive a warning or a code violation and left the court in between sets.

"I'm really sorry about that," she said. "I was telling myself to be calm, but I feel like maybe there was a boiling point.

"Like normally I feel like I like challenges. But recently I feel very anxious when things don't go my way, and I feel like you can feel that. I'm not really sure why it happens the way it happens now."

Her troubles continued as 18-year-old Fernandez broke her serve to kick off the third set, and Osaka hit a ball into the stands in the second game, prompting a warning from the chair umpire.

In the ninth game Osaka rushed through her serves, not even waiting for the crowd to quiet down, as she was unable to create a single break point opportunity in the final set.

A fan favorite, Osaka has struggled with uneven play since she withdrew from Roland Garros earlier this year amid a public row with tournament officials over required media appearances, which she said had a negative impact on her mental health.

She told fans that she has struggled with depression for years, prompting new discussion around mental health in professional sport.

"How do I go around saying this? I feel like for me recently, like, when I win I don't feel happy. I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad," said Osaka.

"I don't think that's normal."

FERNANDEZ BREAKTHROUGH

It was a breakthrough performance for Fernandez, who reached the fourth round of a major for the first time just a few days shy of her 19th birthday.

She fired off 28 winners across the three sets, and said in a televised interview that she worked at "just finding the solutions" during the match.

"She's a great server, she's been hitting aces left, right and centre," Fernandez said of Osaka.

-reuters