The U. S. Open has a brand new women’s champion. Tennis has two brand new stars, teen dreams for the game. Arthur Ashe Stadium has its fans back.
Saturday was a win, win, win day at Flushing Meadows.
Emma Raducanu, the first qualifier to ever make the final of a Grand Slam tournament, is now an unqualified success. She defeated fellow first-time finalist Leylah Fernandez, who made her own remarkable run here, 6-4, 6-3, on Saturday.
After the 2020 tournament was played in the empty Billie Jean King National Tennis Center because of the COVID-19 pandemic, crowds returned this year eager to embrace anyone and ended up with two players they could absolutely love, and they will be able to love them for a long time.
Raducanu, from Great Britain, is 18. Fernandez, from Canada and now living in Boynton Beach, Florida, just turned 19. They are the first teenagers to play each other in the final since Serena Williams beat Martina Hingis in 1999.
Raducanu had to win three qualifying matches just to make the main draw, and she can now say that in three weeks and a total of 10 matches that she has never lost a single set in the U.S. Open.
“Thank you New York for supporting me from my first qualifying match all the way to the final,” she told the fans.
Fernandez, ranked 73rd in world is the winner of a small WTA tournament in Monterrey, Mexico. To book a spot against Raducanu in the final she beat, in order, defending Open champion Naomi Osaka, former Open champion and three-time major winner Angelique Kerber, fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina and second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka — a Wimbledon semifinalist this year.
Raducanu popped up on the radar at Wimbledon in July, making the fourth round before retiring from the match with trouble breathing, nerves getting the best of her. What can you expect from someone who had just turned pro?
But neither she nor Fernandez showed any signs of nerves on Saturday, no deer-in-the-headlights moments, no holding back on any part of their games. They went for their serves, pummeled their groundstrokes, playing with athleticism and grace (no screeching or grunting). Fernandez, who is 5-6, punches well above her weight, giving up three inches to Raducanu.
They were on the biggest stage in tennis, slugging away. The first three games were hard fought, taking 22 minutes to play. Raducanu got a break in the second game, then Fernandez broke back in the third. Raducanu got the winning break in the 10th game.
She seemed to be making inroads on Fernandez’s game. After holding to start the second set, she went up 0-40 on the Fernandez’s serve. But Fernandez, fighting for every point, held. Then she broke Raducanu in the third and the crowd went bonkers. Raducanu broke right back and got a second break in the sixth game. Fernandez fought off match points in the eighth game, then Raducanu fought off a break point in the ninth to take the match and the title, though there was a bit of a scare.
On the point Fernandez won to get the break chance, Raducanu slipped and skinned her knee on the court with some visible blood. She had to take a medical timeout to get patched up, then returned to serve it out.
“I was praying not for a double fault, staying in the moment, focusing on what I had to do, my process,” said Raducanu. “It helped me in the big moments.”
None are likely to be bigger.
