The method to Emma Raducanu’s glorious madness in the US Open final.
Nerves and jitters would have been understandable, even expected, with the two youngsters in uncharted territory and playing the biggest match of their lives in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Although neither Raducanu nor Fernandez had been past the fourth round of a major until this week, their Cinderella runs collided in an electrifying women’s final marked by searing baseline winners and fearless all-court play.
“I think this final shows that the future of women’s tennis and just the depth of the game right now is so great,” Raducanu said during the on-court ceremony. “I think every single player in the women’s draw definitely has a shot to win any tournament. I hope that the next generation can follow in the steps of the greatest legends—like Billie Jean King—and everyone who is at the top of the game right now.”
Ranked world No. 150, Raducanu had to go through three rounds of qualifying in order to reach her second Grand Slam main draw and make her US Open debut. She did it in brutally efficient style, not dropping a set in any of her 10 matches as she fought past the likes of Belinda Bencic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, and No. 17 Maria Sakkari.
She continued her stellar run against the match-tested No. 73 Fernandez, who took down No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Naomi Osaka and No. 5 Elina Svitolina on her way to the final. Raducanu asserted her big-hitting game early on, putting the Fernandez serve under pressure as she broke serve in a marathon game to take a 2-0 lead.
Watch: Raducanu vs. Fernandez, final highlights
Although the Canadian quickly broke back, she was left playing catch-up as Raducanu steadily dialled up the intensity, earning unforced errors in return. The Brit took control of the match late in the first set, converting her fourth set point with a searing forehand winner.
In the second set, she found herself having to rally from a break down as Fernandez took an early lead. Raducanu stepped into the court to take the ball early, and returned with interest to break back, reeling off the next four games to make it 5-2. Serving for the match a game later, she had to take a medical time out after scraping her knee sliding into a shot.
But even a little blood was not enough to derail the inevitable. On her third match point, Raducanu fired an ace, and fell to the court in triumph.
WHAT IT MEANS: It’s difficult to overstate just how incredible—and improbable—Raducanu’s achievement really is.
Already the first qualifier to ever reach a Slam final, Raducanu is also the woman with the least major appearances to have gone on to win the title. To put that into context: when Bianca Andreescu won the US Open title in 2019 in her fourth Grand Slam appearance, she tied the record set by Monica Seles at the 1990 French Open. Raducanu has done that in just two major appearances, having reached the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Raducanu also became the youngest Grand Slam champion since 17-year-old Maria Sharapova’s triumph at Wimbledon in 2004. She has added her name to British tennis history, ending her country’s 44 year wait for a major champion. Raducanu is now the first British woman to win a major title since Virginia Wade in 1977 – and the legend herself was in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium to witness the teen’s achievement.
“It means so much to have Virginia here and also Tim [Henman],” Raducanu acknowledged. “To have these British legends and icons for me to follow in their footsteps really helps, and it gave me the belief to actually do it.”
Even more impressive is the fact that she has accomplished all of this without having any WTA-level match wins to her name. Leading up to the US Open, Raducanu reached an ITF 100K quarterfinal in Landisville and the final of a WTA Challenger in Chicago.
Three days after that defeat, Raducanu took the court in New York to begin her qualifying journey at the US Open – and the rest is now written in the tennis history books.
MATCH POINT: Coming into the tournament, the Brit had amassed $303,376 in prize money over the course of her career—she will take home $2.5 million after her victory on Saturday.
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