Britain’s 18-year-old Emma Raducanu became the first female qualifier to win a Grand Slam title by defeating 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez on Saturday in the US Open women’s final.
The ranked 150th Raducanu was the first British woman in 44 years to win a slam title after defeating the ranked 73rd Fernandez 6-4, 6-3.
No woman from Britain has won a singles title since Virginia Wade won in 1977 at Wimbledon.
Raducanu was the first British woman to claim the US Open crown since Wade in 1968.
Wade and British men’s tennis legend Tim Henman were among the sellout crowd of 23,700, creating a thrilling atmosphere at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the first women’s Grand Slam final among unranked players.
The showdown of prodigious talents was the first All-Teens Final of the Slam since 17-year-old Serena Williams defeated 18-year-old Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open final.
With the victory, Raducanu became the youngest US Open champion since Williams in 1999 and the first US Open women’s champion not to drop a set since Williams in 2014.
Raducanu has had the fewest matches in a women’s slam, reaching the fourth round in July at Wimbledon in her only previous slam appearance while Fernandez has won only four in her previous six slam matches.
