Leylah Fernandez is just 19 years old, but she plays to the crowd like a seasoned veteran. 

Such was the case Thursday night in the Canadian phenom’s semifinal matchup against second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, whom she defeated 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to the U.S. Open final for the first time in her career. 

In their first meeting, which pinned Fernadez’s style versus Sabalenka’s power, the teenager prevailed to take down her third top-10 opponent in the tournament. 

“I would say it’s thanks to the New York crowd,” Fernandez said with a smile in her on-court interview. “They’ve helped me today, they’ve cheered for me. They never gave up on me, they fought for me. Thanks to you, I was able to win, so thank you New York.” 

The two went shot for shot through the first six games of the third set, aside from the fifth, when Sabalenka held Fernandez to love. Fernandez then showed off the tremendous variety she possesses in her shots and stole a 10-point sixth game to pull ahead 4-2. 

That’s when Sabalenka channeled her frustrations onto the court, which allowed her to pull even in the final set. But Fernandez captured eight of the next nine points to advance. 

Fueled by frustration after dropping the first set, Sabalenka held Fernandez to love in the first game and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. As she’s done all tournament long, Fernandez fed off the crowd and stormed back. When Sabalenka lost the break with a backhand forced error to lose the lead, Fernandez pumped her fist in the air as the crowd roared. 

Sabalenka, however, began to find her groove in landing game points — after struggling to do so for most of the match — and forced a third set. 

Sabalenka had Fernandez on her heels at the start. Fernandez simply had no answer for the unrelenting force with which Sabalenka was hitting the ball, resulting in the Canadian trailing 4-1 in the first set. But Fernandez shifted the momentum in the sixth game, winning it handily with three aces. 

From there, Fernandez was more aggressive with her serve and clawed her way back to knot the set at four-all. 

After trading off the next four games, in which Sabalenka flashed her dominance at the net and Fernandez continued to attack the second serve well, the first set headed to a tiebreak. Sabalenka committed a handful of unforced errors, including a double fault, to hand Fernandez the first set. 

Of all the storylines at this year’s tournament, Fernandez has been one of the most captivating. The 19-year-old took out defending U.S. Open champion and third-seeded Naomi Osaka in the third round before topping three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth. 

In the quarterfinals, one day after turning 19, Fernadez defeated No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina. 

Fernandez is the youngest player to knock off multiple top-five players in any Grand Slam tournament since Serena Williams did it at the age of 17 at the 1999 U.S. Open. 

“I just wanted to be in the finals,” she said. “I really wanted it and I fought for every point.”