Tennis

7:00 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com NEW YORK — Leylah Fernandez never doubted she could beat the best in the world. But given she had never advanced past the third round at a major before arriving to the 2021 US Open, it was everyone else who needed convincing. By the end of her third-round match against

4:30 PM ET ESPN staff In a very unexpected US Open women’s final, we have two teenagers — Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu — making their first appearances in the final round of a Grand Slam event. Honestly, who would have guessed this pairing? Or even that just one of these women would make it

1:25 AM ET NEW YORK — As the No. 2 player in the world was imploding with her second consecutive double fault at the worst time, Leylah Fernandez turned and glared toward her player’s box, where family and even Brooklyn Nets head coach and Canadian basketball legend Steve Nash sat on the edges of their

10:32 PM ET Associated Press Billie Jean King and the pioneering “Original 9” were honored at the US Open for their induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The six members who were in attendance were presented rings on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court in between the women’s semifinal matches. The women’s players signed

9:49 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Leylah Fernandez‘s first major semifinal, at the US Open just days after her 19th birthday, did not go her way at the start. After she recovered from that to take a lead, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka pushed a match filled with momentum swings to a back-and-forth

7:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com NEW YORK — Leylah Fernandez stood on the court as every person sitting in Arthur Ashe Stadium looked on, enraptured by her every word. The 19-year-old had just won her quarterfinal match at the US Open against No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), and advanced to her

12:37 AM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Never fazed, rarely flummoxed, Novak Djokovic is collected in best-of-five-set matches even when falling behind, as he has done repeatedly at this US Open. No opponent, or the prospect of what is at stake, has been too much to handle. Not yet, anyway. And now he is

2:09 PM ET ESPN News Services Emma Raducanu became the second teenager to reach the US Open semifinals in two days, upsetting Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4. The 18-year-old qualifier from Britain joined Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who earned her semifinal spot Tuesday, a day after her 19th birthday. Raducanu is also the

8:39 AM ET ESPN staff A US Open without Venus and Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal surely won’t live up to Slam standards for tennis fans, right? Wrong. The upstart teenagers have taken Flushing Meadows by storm on the men’s and women’s sides, advancing through the brackets and upsetting favorites along the way,

5:48 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — With no players from the United States left to pull for in the US Open, the fans are adopting a neighbor from the North to treat as one of their own: Leylah Fernandez, an unseeded Canadian teenager with an exciting game and enthusiasm to match. A day

7:02 PM ET Leylah Fernandez‘s dream US Open run continues. Fernandez, who turned 19 on Monday, defeated No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Tuesday to advance to the semis in New York. The Canadian teen is the youngest woman to reach the US Open semifinals since Maria Sharapova did so at

12:25 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com NEW YORK — Belinda Bencic has already lived her biggest dream. One month after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo, the 24-year-old was frank when she said she didn’t think anything else could ever compete with her podium-topping performance. “For me, it’s forever, and for me, it’s probably going to be

4:58 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — For half an hour and a full set at the start, then one particularly compelling and competitive game later, Novak Djokovic‘s opponent in the US Open’s fourth round, Jenson Brooksby, gave him fits and created a raucous atmosphere under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium. That

4:45 PM ET NEW YORK — Leylah Fernandez was down a set and a break — 4-6, 2-4 — against 2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber on Sunday, and the scorecard suggested that the teenager’s dream run was probably going to end soon. Still, Fernandez’s eyes glinted. She served with abandon, faster and more precise.

6:45 AM ET Golfer Rory McIlroy has backed Naomi Osaka’s decision to take a break from tennis following the Japanese world No. 3’s elimination from the U.S. Open last week, saying that it was important that athletes did not let results define them. A tearful Osaka told reporters that she would be taking some time

7:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com NEW YORK — Two days after making his auspicious introduction to tennis fans, Carlos Alcaraz took the court in front of a capacity crowd of more than 8,000 in Grandstand stadium for his fourth-round match at the US Open on Sunday. Even with the looming threat of rain, there was

4:00 PM ET ESPN staff One week into the US Open, there has been no shortage of excitement, upsets, and yes, drama. No. 1 Ash Barty was stunned in the third round by American Shelby Rogers on Saturday night. A day earlier, Naomi Osaka lost in third round to Leylah Fernandez. Elsewhere in the tournament,

8:00 AM ET NEW YORK — While all eyes have been on Novak Djokovic and his quest for the Calendar Slam, three teens have been creating their own storylines at this year’s US Open. It has been an impressive stretch — Carlos Alcaraz, 18, became the youngest man to beat a top-three player at the