British tennis player Emma Raducanu beat Canadian star Leylah Fernandez to win the US Open women’s final on Saturday. She is the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam singles title. Raducanu came into the US Open ranked 150th in the world. The 18-year-old Raducanu overpowered Leylah Fernandez, a 19-year-old from Canada - winning 6-4, 6-3. Their showdown lasted an hour and 51 minutes, was the first major tennis final between two teenagers in 22 years.
The match had a dramatic finale as Raducanu was forced to have a medical time out after skidding on the court and hurting her leg as she raced to return a ball. It is an extraordinary, unprecedented achievement for Raducanu, who came into the US Open ranked 150th in the world.
She didn’t drop a set during the entire tournament, playing a total of 10 matches including three in qualifying. No qualifier had ever reached a slam final before - and as well as being the first woman to win a title in as few as two tournaments, Raducanu is also the youngest champion since Maria Sharapova triumphed at Wimbledon in 2004.
Each rally between Raducanu and Fernandez was hard fought, with both women reading each other’s games in a way their previous opponents didn’t manage to do. The last British woman to hoist a major tennis trophy was Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977. Raducanu was born in Toronto, Canada but moved to London when she was 2 years old, according to her WTA Tour bio. She's been playing tennis since she was 5. Her father is Romanian and her mother is Chinese; they both work in finance, and she credits them for teaching her to be disciplined, according to the South China Morning Post.
