Canadian glory! Leylah Fernandez reaches her maiden grand slam final with an obliterating win over Aryna Sabalenka
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Leylah Fernandez
In probably one of the most intense and hard fought matches of the 2021 US Open, Canadian teen sensation Leylah Fernandez overcomes a stern challenge from World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal to reached her maiden grand slam final. The Canadian beat Sabalenka in three sets 7-6(3),4-6,6-4.
The intensity of the match never dropped and was the same throughout with both the players bringing out their best tennis. Fernandez also became the second 19-year old Canadian in three years to reach the US Open final. In 2019, Bianca Andreescu won the title as a 19-year old.
Fernandez has had one of the toughest draw one could ask for and has beaten the likes of defending champion Naomi Osaka, former World No.1 Angelique Kerber, World No.5 Elina Svitolina and World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka en route the final- speaking volumes about her mammoth achievement!
Both Fernandez and Sabalenka looked in fine touch right from the first set. They served well and engaged in some long rallies from the baseline. Sabalenka at times outpowered Fernandez with her strong winners but the Canadian gave her back most of the times. The set was perfectly poised and went into a tiebreaker, and once again, Fernandez came out the winner, dropping just 3 points.
Fernandez sees off a comeback from Sabalenka
The second set was as tight as the first, with both players pushing each other to the absolute limit and holding serve. There were more winners than unforced errors, indicating the high quality of tennis. It was Sabalenka though who got a late break in the 9th game and consolidated it with a hold to win the set 6-4.
The second seed had the momentum going into the third set but Fernandez showed nerves of steel to bounce back. She got the break of serve midway in the set but got broken in the very next game to draw level at 4-4. Sabalenka, in the end was serving to stay in the match but couldn’t handle the pressure and double faulted in the end. Fernandez broke serve to love to win the set 6-4, and fell onto the ground in disbelief- she was the US Open finalist!
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)