NEW YORK, USA.- Canadian tennis had its golden day at the U.S. Open by placing teenagers Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernández in the men's and women's singles semifinals, respectively, who are made history with their victories.

Auger-Aliassime, 21, advanced to his first Open and Grand Slam semi-final after Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 18, retired in the second set while trailing 3-6 , 1-3, due to a muscle problem in his right leg.

Alcaraz was coming off back-to-back five-set victories, including against third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, making him the youngest men's quarter-finalist in New York since 1963.

“It’s really hard to pull out of a big tournament like this,” Alcaraz said. “But I had no choice.”

While Auger-Aliassime, seeded twelfth, became the first Canadian player to reach the semi-finals of the Open, where his next rival will be none other than Russian Daniil Medvedev, seeded second.

Medvedev, 25, earned a place in the last four at Flushing Meadows for the third straight year by stopping the surprising winning streak of Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp, whom he beat 6-3, 6-0, 4 -6 and 7-5.

As with the women, only one man in the quarter-finals already holds a major trophy and it is none other than Serbian Novak Djokovic, who is not only aiming for a record 21, but also trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969, complete the cycle of Grand Slam tournaments in a single year.

Medvedev approached. He lost to Djokovic in the final of this year's Australian Open and to Rafael Nadal in the final of the 2019 US Open.

The only way for him to face Djokovic this time would be in the title match on Sunday, but Medvedev will first have to overcome the Auger-Aliassime test which he will face for the second time and lead 1-0 after to win it at the 2018 ATP Masters 1000 in Toronto.

“I don't think about him, because as we saw, anyone can beat anyone,” Medvedev said. “If he's in the final and I'm there, I'll be happy. I guess he will be too.”

Medvedev hopes to become Russia's third men's singles champion at a Grand Slam tournament, joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.

But for now, he doesn't want to get ahead of himself. On the other hand, he said he enjoyed the special moment of reaching the semi-finals of the Open for the third time in a row.

“Really happy to be in the semi-final again, for the third time in a row,” Medvedev said. “I couldn’t dream of it maybe four years ago, but now it’s three.”

Leylah Fernández also could not have thought that she would become the youngest semi-finalist of the tournament since the Russian Maria Sharapova, in 2005.

The Canadian teenager, with an Ecuadorian father and a Filipino-Canadian mother residing in Florida, won with an aggressive and exciting game, which thrilled the Flushing crowd, 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6 (5) to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, fifth seed.

In the midst of his game full of enthusiasm and fight, Fernández once again received the full support of the fans every time he raised his right fist to encourage himself.

In the victory against Svitolina, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which followed those won against the Open champions and former number ones, the Japanese Naomi Osaka, and the German Angelique Kerber, Fernández focused on her game .

“I was just thinking about trusting myself, my game. After every point, whether I won or lost, I always said to myself, 'Trust my game.' Go get my shots. Watch where the ball is going,'” said Fernandez, who turned 19 on Monday and had never progressed past the third round in his half-dozen major matches.

With no American players to support, fans at the New York Open embraced their northern neighbors, even though Montreal-born Fernandez, ranked 73, resides in Florida.

Next on this magical journey for Fernández will come another test against a higher-ranked and more experienced player on the sport's biggest stages.

Her next opponent will be Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in July, who beat Roland-Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4.

Looking forward to her match that evening, Sabalenka said she was practicing during the Fernandez-Svitolina match, “and we didn't really need to see the score because we could really hear the fans screaming.”

Krejcikova was the only woman still competing to already own a Grand Slam title.

But she said her match suffered against Sabalenka because she “wasn't really in perfect shape” after experiencing cramps and dizziness during her fourth-round victory Sunday against two-time Spanish major champion Garbiñe Muguruza.

Krejcikova went to the doctor at the end of the match, after taking her time between points in the final stretch of that match, leading Muguruza to tell her that her behavior was “very unprofessional”, doubting perhaps from the veracity of his health. by his rival.

Asked about what happened on Sunday, Krejcikova said: “I felt really humiliated by a Grand Slam champion, I've never seen anything like that.” EFE

“Thank you, I’m sorry” 😬

“It’s really unprofessional” 😤

Barbora Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza have a tense exchange at the net after the Czech wins her #US Open round of 16 match after a long medical timeout pic.twitter.com/JopI50J0zi

– Amazon Prime Sports Video (@primevideosport) September 6, 2021

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