Dutch qualifier and Canandian teenager storm in US Open quarters

Dutch world number 117 Botic van de Zandschulp is into the quarter-finals of a major tournament for the first time, as is Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who continued her giant-killing ways one day before her 19th birthday at the US Open.

Leylah Fernandez is into the US Open quarter-finals.
Photo: AFP

Van de Zandschulp took down 11th seed Diego Schwartzman to reach the last eight, while Fernandez backed up her third-round win over defending champion Naomi Osaka by beating three-time major winner Angelique Kerber.

Van de Zandschulp had never even been to America before arriving for the last grand slam tournament of 2021, and is now just the third male qualifier to get this far in the Open era.

“I think, before the tournament, no-one expected me to reach the quarter-finals here,” he said.

Van de Zandschulp defeated Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 to continue a US Open filled with upsets.

World number one Ash Barty and defending champion Naomi Osaka have been knocked out of the women’s draw, while men’s third seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and number five Andrey Rublev are out.

Van de Zandschulp joins Nicolas Escude (1999) and Gilles Muller (2008) as just the third men’s qualifier to reach the quarter-finals since the Open era began in 1968.

Before the US Open, Van de Zandschulp had only five tour-level wins in nine years as a professional, spending most of his time in challenger and qualifying tournaments.

The 25-year-old has never been ranked higher than 117 in the world and had never advanced past the second round at a slam, but this run is no fluke, with Schwartzman admitting he was lucky to even push the match to five sets.

“His tactic today was working perfectly,” the Argentinian said.

“Maybe I had luck in the third and fourth [set] to continue playing the match today because he was playing better than me.”

While Schwartzman and eighth seed Casper Ruud, who he beat in the second round, are formidable opponents, Van de Zandschulp’s task gets infinitely harder against world number two Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian finalist from 2019 has yet to drop a set on his way to the quarter-finals for the third straight year, cruising past 24th seed Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round.

Fernandez beat four-time major winner Naomi Osaka and three-time slam champion Kerber in successive matches.

Fernandez’s next opponent, women’s fifth seed Elina Svitolina, is also yet to drop a set.

Like Fernandez, the Ukrainian is hunting for her first slam title and also beat a multiple major winner, Simona Halep, to advance to the quarters.

After taking down Halep 6-3, 6-3, Svitolina has only spent four hours and 48 minutes on court during the tournament, while Fernandez has been out there for eight hours, plus a tick over two hours of doubles play with New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe.

Fernandez’s win over Germany’s Kerber was her longest match of the tournament so far, at two hours and 15 minutes.

–ABC