Sport Discussed

In an US open final that will go down in history as one of the most exciting women’s finals ever, Emma Raducanu prevailed to join a short list of Brits to win a grand slam.

Raducanu, who came into the tournament as a 400/1 outsider had made easy work of her opponents up to the final despite even having to win 2 rounds of qualifiers just to enter the tournament at all. She entered the final having beaten top ranked players such as Belinda Bencic (ranked 11) and Maria Sakkara (ranked 17). Whilst she faced a step up in competition, the 18 year old hadn’t dropped a single set during the entire campaign and looked to be playing with no pressure on her shoulders whatsoever.

Fernandez however had put together an incredible run of results on her way to the final. The Canadian produced outstanding wins over the likes of Naomi Osaka (ranked 3), Angelique Kerber (ranked 16), Elina Svitolina (ranked 5) and Aryna Sabalenka (ranked 2). As impressive as her campaign had been, Fernandez had to work harder to reach the final and a string of 3 set wars probably meant that Raducanu came into the final a bit more fresh both mentally and physically.

Although both women had been born in Canada, Raducanu represented Great Britain and had generated a lot of excitement in her chosen nation. It was felt that if she could go on to win the grand slam it would be the greatest achievement in British tennis history. In what was probably due to the ease in which she had reached the final, Raducanu entered the final the favourite over Fernandez who had definitely beat a more impressive list of players on her way to the final.

Much like most of her matches, Raducanu got off to a flying start going 3-0 up in the first set. However, Fernandez came flying back and evened the match up at 3-3. This was when we were going to see how the Brit was able to perform under pressure when not everything was going her way. After a fierce back and forth first set 18 year old Emma Raducanu triumphed 6-4 meaning she was 1 set away from making history.

The second set once again began to go the young Brit’s way. Fernandez’ style matched up well against the qualifier and it felt like whoever won the match was going to have to work incredibly hard to do it. Despite having already lost match points, the break forced by the bandaging that had to be done to Raducanu’s hand seemed to rattle the Canadian who seemed to feel as if the break was unlawful. 2 points later the Brit finally got over the line with a beautiful backhand winner, a shot that had served her well throughout the tournament.

Raducanu showed maturity far beyond what would be expected from an 18 year old even in her post match interview where she spoke quite eloquently about her team and parents who were back at home watching the match.

The LTA will be hoping Raducanu continues with this success for many more years and acts as an inspiration for lots of young, aspiring tennis players in Britain.