A hurricane of freshness is blowing in the ladies at the US Open.
Carefree and irresistible, Britain’s Emma Raducanu (18) and Canadian Leylah Fernandez (19) reached their first Grand Slam final on Thursday.
Emma Raducanu (WTA 150) crushed Greece’s Maria Sakkari (no 17) 6-1 6-4 in the second semi-final. Falling behind Belinda Bencic (No. 11) in the quarterfinal, she became the first player in history from qualifying to reach this stage of a Major.
“I am in the final and I can not believe it”, reacted, radiant, the Londoner, after her new demonstration still full of control. She is also the youngest Grand Slam finalist since Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who was 17 in 2004 at Wimbledon.
Fernandez again in three sets
Leylah Fernandez (WTA 73), who was revealed to the Swiss public by beating Belinda Bencic in FedCup in Biel in February 2020, has meanwhile struggled much longer against Aryna Sabalenka (no 2). She won 7-6 (7/3) 4-6 6-4 in 2h21 ‘against Belarus.
As in the third round when she caused a sensation by eliminating the defending champion Naomi Osaka (no 3), yet two points from a victory that everyone was waiting for, as in the 8th and quarter to get rid of Angelique Kerber (no 16) and Elina Svitolina (no 5), she thus passed the shoulder in the third set.
A first since Hingis-Williams
Raducanu against Fernandez, it is the first final between “teenagers” in a Major since that of the US Open 1999. Serena Williams, then 17 years old, had then taken the best on the St-Welsh Martina Hingis to pluck her first Grand Slam title. We wish them to have the same glorious career.
In the meantime, a new champion will have to add her name to the tournament winners on Saturday. And if Emma Raducanu seems the most impressive, having gone so far to cross each turn with disconcerting ease and authority, Leylah Fernandez has shown an extraordinary strength of character in compromised situations that prohibits underestimate.
Sabalenka ace
Leylah Fernandez, who had so far never passed the 3rd round in six Grand Slam tournaments, made Aryna Sabalenka her third victim among the top five players in the world. No one had done such scalps in a Grand Slam since Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2012 …
Favorite, Aryna Sabalenka first cracked in the deciding game of the first set, committing five consecutive unforced errors. The Belarusian reacted perfectly in the second set but again collapsed on his serve in the last game of the match, including two consecutive double faults.
ats, afp
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