September 10, (THEWILL) – The tennis major final that Britain’s Emma Raducanu sought with her brilliant tennis at Wimbledon but which was denied her by the breathing problems she encountered that forced her to withdraw came for the 18-year-old via another straight sets victory over world number 11 Maria Sakkari which finished 6-1 6-4.
The victory came with a clear warning for Raducanu’s co-finalist, the other highly impressive young professional of the pair of teenagers who have taken the US Open by storm this year, 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
This is because Raducanu set up an all-teenage final at the US Open by breezing through her three qualifying matches without dropping a single set along the way. Just as Fernandez did with her progress to the final, Raducanu’s wins have become all the more sensational the farther she has gone in the tournament.
Now, after making it to the semi-final as the first ever qualifier to reach that stage of the competition, the Brit is looking to also become the first woman to capture a US Open title without dropping a set since Serena Williams reached that milestone in 2014.
What has drawn the most astonishment for those following Raducanu’s progress is that aside from simply blowing away top players such as Sara Sorribes Tormo, no opponent has been able to force a set against Raducanu to a tiebreak or pushed their match to a 7-5 set along the way.
Such has been so dominating that her straight sets march to the final has been highlighted by this most recent victory over Sakkari, a player who had looked highly impressive all tournament, saying nothing of the knocking off of Belinda Bencic, the gold medalist in the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
For the teenager who began the summer ranked outside the Top 300 without even a mention in the top 10 players of British origin, this has come as a breath of fresh air for women’s tennis. It builds from the striking introduction the world had of her as a wild card entry to Wimbledon.
She carried her experience of making the fourth round of her home major in the All England Club to New York and has not ceased to astound everyone she has faced so far to the applause of an ever appreciative US Open crowd. The tennis world was not ready for a finalist who had previously not won a WTA match before but Raducanu has seized on the opportunity and is absolutely making the most of her chance at the final Open of the year.
Raducanu saw Sorribes Tormo off with a bagel in the first set for a victory that ended the match with only one game to Tormo’s name: 6-0, 6-1. After Shelby Rogers knocked out world number one Ashleigh Barty, Raducanu defeated her with a masterful 6-2 6-1 straight sets victory before stomping on to the semi-finals with an impressive 6-3 6-4 win over Olympic champion Bencic.
The 6-1 6-4 clear-out of Sakkari means Raducanu is truly facing the unprecedented task of attempting to win a Major as a qualifier and as the first woman since Alexandra Stevenson in 1999 to even make the semifinals as a qualifier, which was previously the furthest anyone had progressed from qualifying alone.
The historic fact is that Raducanu is the first qualifier ever–man or woman–to reach a Grand Slam final. This was already a banner year for qualifiers, but the Brit’s run adds emphatic historic quality.
As THEWILL reported, she will meet another teenage sensation in Leylah Fernandez. The path to the final for the Canadian was different, as she needed to win multiple tight matches that could have gone either way. It means Fernandez faced a tougher draw to the final.
However, unlike Raducanu, Fernandez is more familiar with success. She won her first WTA title earlier this year and, as unexpected as her remarkable progress has been, she can still complete it with the title at New York added to her WTA victory. For her own part, Raducanu would be the first player since Jelena Ostapenko in 2017 to win a Major as her first title.
The slight difference between both players is that while Raducanu has demonstrated an impressive on-court dominance, relying on her game play and strategy to completely offset the opponent’s serve there has been a more fateful strand to the progress Fernandez has made. To the credit of the Canadian, she needed to be at her best to reach her first Major final but has not displayed the near-absolute masterful performance of Raducanu who appears to have no weakness to exploit.
If Raducanu can play exactly as she has done by never allowing an opponent come within sniffing distance of claiming a set off her, there will be a uphill battle waiting for Fernandez in the thoroughly exciting US Open Final awaiting tennis fans between two very thrilling teenage sensations that promise a bright future for the sport.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
