Emma Raducanu: The 18-year-old Briton makes tennis history with her final victory at the US Open | US Open tennis 2021

This is only Raducanu’s second appearance in the Grand Slam main draw and no woman in the Open era has ever won in so few attempts. Along with this distinction is a seemingly endless list of records: Raducanu is the first British woman to win a Grand Slam title since Virginia Wade’s victory at Wimbledon in 1977. She is the first qualifier, male or female, to win a title. of the Grand Slam. At 18, she is the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004.

From the start of the first teen slam final in 22 years, both players refused to be affected by the moment. Throughout the first set they fought against each other, defended with elite movement and imbued every game with sheer intensity. Raducanu started the match controlling the early rallies by constantly changing direction of both wings, and she set the tone by slamming a cross backhand winner in the opener.

After holding the serve, Raducanu immediately won the return, breaking her sixth break point. But Fernandez responded with his own suffocating second leg, coming back to his fourth break point for 2-1. After 22 long minutes of pure intensity, they had only played three games.

As she faced her toughest opponent in the championships, Raducanu was at times visibly frustrated with her level as Fernandez’s defense pulled off mistakes that the Briton’s other opponents couldn’t. But as the set progressed, she again began to dominate key points with her firepower on both wings.

Raducanu had him run to 5-4 with a streak of sultry returns, slamming a cross backhand return winner to bring in a double set point. Fernandez saved both, including with a daring series of forehands, then Raducanu missed a third. But Raducanu stayed above the baseline; she punched a winning backhand forehand to bring in a fourth set point, then sent another big forehand to take the set.

Momentum continued to steer Raducanu’s direction as she progressed to lead 6-4, 1-0 and 0-40 on Fernandez’s serve. But with her back to the wall, the Canadian stepped forward and swayed freely. She saved all three and then used the momentum to break the serve for 2-1. Raducanu responded immediately, calling for his immense serve return and breaking up with an angled cross return winner. After maintaining the serve, she played a ballistic return game and again broke for 4-2 with a forehand running winning the pass shot.

Two match points came soon after for Raducanu at 5-2, but both times she hit nervous forehands and missed. Fernandez, seasoned by four consecutive passers to three, began a last ditch charge. She held the serve, then got momentum by attacking Raducanu’s serve. At 30-30, she had her opponent on the ropes and pulled off a winning forehand, but as the Briton slipped to a defensive backhand, she grazed her left knee as she slid.

Raducanu was bleeding and so with a score of 6-4, 5-3 and a breaking point in the biggest game of her life, she was forced to take a medical time out. Fernandez, who had the momentum, was unsurprisingly unhappy and when they finally picked up, she immediately fired a forehand at the breaking point.

But then she generated another breaking point, asking Raducanu one last question. Under the final Grand Slam pressure that has stifled so many great players over the course of the year, Raducanu’s reaction said all there was to know about his courage and composure. She saved the second break point on the front foot with an overhead winner at the top of her reach, then drilled a backhand down the line to bring match point. She served him with an ace, in front of a crowd that included Wade.

After congratulating Fernandez and his team on their race and thanking his own entourage and supporters, the winner said: “It was an incredibly difficult game but I thought the level was extremely high. I hope we will face each other in many more tournaments and hopefully in the finals.

She added of the final match: “Leylah is always going to play great tennis and will always fight. She’s just the competitor she is and that’s why she’s here in the final. I knew I had to dig deep and somehow fell. I thought it would throw me off balance because I would have to serve. I was just praying that I wouldn’t double the fault, really. We have been successful, just by staying in the moment, focusing on what I need to do, my process in the moment has really helped me in these difficult times.

When Raducanu arrived in New York City three weeks ago, there was some caution about her fitness after a few intense weeks on the road in what is still her first long trip away from home to compete. His flights were booked for the end of qualifying week, as a loss in any round would have been a completely normal outcome and a valuable learning experience.