Canada's Leylah Fernandez is feeling good on American soil again. After upsetting No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula in the second round, the World No. 36 moved through to the semifinals of the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win over another American, qualifier Taylor Townsend, on Friday. 

Washington, D.C.: Draws | Scores | Order of play

With three wins in D.C., Fernandez is through to the biggest hard-court semifinal of her career since she finished as runner-up to Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Fernandez's three semifinal appearances on the surface since then all came at WTA 250-level events. 

'It definitely feels good to reach a semi,' Fernandez said afterwards. 'I think it's been a while since I have reached a semis, almost a year. So for me, it's a good steppingstone. I see that the work that I have been doing all year is paying off now. We wish it would have paid off earlier, but we can't really complain.

'We have to take it one match at a time, one moment at a time, and stay present, enjoy our time, enjoy the good vibes that we're feeling in D.C.'

To get to the final four, Fernandez staved off a comeback effort from World No. 97 Townsend. After opening up a 5-1 lead in the first set, she broke serve at 5-4 after failing to serve the set out twice.

In set two, she came from 5-3 down -- saving a set point -- and then regrouped from a 5-3 tiebreak deficit to seal the victory in straight sets.

Rybakina next up: Fernandez will have to take down her second Top 20 opponent of the week if she wants to advance further. Her semifinal foe will be World No. 12 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion.

No. 3 seed Rybakina of Kazakhstan clinched her spot in the semis by toppling No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-3. Rybakina is now 3-0 vs. Frech, who took down Venus Williams last night.

Rybakina cruised through the first set, but she had to fend off three break points early in the second set to keep Frech from taking a big lead. Once out of that danger, though, Rybakina kept rolling, and she finished the match with an 83 percent success rate behind her first serve.

Rybakina and Fernandez have split their two previous meetings, both coming on hard court last year. Rybakina won in two sets at 2024 Doha, but Fernandez avenged that loss by saving two match points in a 2024 Cincinnati comeback.