Emma Raducanu of Great Britain celebrates the winning match to defeat Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez during the second set of her final women’s singles match on the thirteenth day of the 2021 American Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center l September 11, 2021. (Photo by Elsa / Getty Images)
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Emma Raducanu has become the first British woman in 44 years to win an individual Grand Slam title.
The 18-year-old dominated Leylah Fernandez, a 19-year-old from Canada, who won 6-4 6-3 in the U.S. Open final.
Their match lasted an hour and 51 minutes, it was the first major tennis final between two teenagers in 22 years.
Saturday night’s game had a spectacular ending as Raducanu was forced to spend some medical time after slipping on the court and injuring his leg while running to get a ball back.
It is an extraordinary and unprecedented achievement for Raducanu, who entered the US Open ranked No. 150 in the world.
He didn’t drop a single set throughout the tournament, playing a total of 10 games including three in the standings.
No qualifier had ever reached a slam final before, and in addition to being the first woman to win a title in just two tournaments, Raducanu is also the youngest champion since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.
Every rally between Raducanu and Fernandez was hard fought, with the two women reading the games in a way that their previous opponents failed to do.
The last British woman to win a major tennis trophy was Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.