LEYLAH FERNANDEZ of Canada rallied from a set down to pummel three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany on Sunday at a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium to vault into the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

A day before her 19th birthday, the unseeded left-hander grabbed the last five games to eliminate 2016 title winner Kerber 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, demonstrating that an earlier upset of defending champion Naomi Osaka was certainly no fluke.

With grit and guile, plus a veteran’s poise in the face of big deficits against much more accomplished opponents, Fernandez is displaying strokes and a demeanor that left Kerber offering this assessment: “She can go really far in the next few years.”

There’s no time like the present for the teens in tennis: Also into the quarterfinals with a win Sunday was Carlos Alcaraz, an 18-year-old from Spain who became the youngest man to get that far at the U.S. Open since 1963 by outlasting his 32-year-old foe, 141st-ranked qualifier Peter Gojowczyk of Germany, 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.

Alcaraz will play No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 21-year-old from Canada who reached his second straight major quarterfinal by defeating Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6), 6-4 with the help of 24 aces.

“At some point, age is just a number,” Auger-Aliassime said when asked about Alcaraz. “He already feels like a player that is established.”

The 55th-ranked Alcaraz got past No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in his previous match and is the youngest player with two five-set Grand Slam wins in a row since Michael Chang was 16 at the 1988 U.S. Open.(SD-Agencies)