• Home
  • Metro Asian News
  • Misc Asia
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Art
  • Health
  • Eat Out
  • Events
  • Podcasts
ABOUT
Advertise in GAT
Contact us
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Georgia Asian Times
International Insurance of Georgia
  • Home
  • Metro Asian News
  • Misc Asia
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Art
  • Health
  • Eat Out
  • Events
  • Podcasts
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Metro Asian News
  • Misc Asia
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Art
  • Health
  • Eat Out
  • Events
  • Podcasts
No Result
View All Result
Georgia Asian Times
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Metro Asian News
  • Misc Asia
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Art
  • Health
  • Eat Out
  • Events
  • Podcasts
Home Sports

Qualifier to champion: Britain’s Raducanu, 18, wins US Open

Georgia Asian Times by Georgia Asian Times
September 12, 2021
in Sports
Qualifier to champion: Britain’s Raducanu, 18, wins US Open
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

New York, Sept 11, 2021 — British teenager Emma Raducanu arrived in New York last month with a ranking of 150th, just one Grand Slam appearance to her name and a flight booked to head out of town after the U.S. Open’s preliminary rounds in case she failed to win her way into the main tournament.

And there she was in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, cradling the silver trophy to complete an unlikely — indeed, unprecedented — and surprisingly dominant journey from qualifier to major champion by beating Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

“You say, ‘I want to win a Grand Slam.’ But to have the belief I did, and actually executing, winning a Grand Slam,” Raducanu said, “I can’t believe it.”

Who could?

AD: High Museum of Atlanta

It’s all so improbable.

Until three months ago, she had never played in a professional tour-level event, in part because she took 18 months for a combination of reasons: the pandemic and her parents’ insistence that she complete her high school degree.

“My dad is definitely very tough to please,” the 18-year-old Raducanu said with a smile Saturday evening. “But I managed to today.”

She is the female qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final, let alone win one. She captured 10 matches in a row at Flushing Meadows — three in qualifying, seven in the main draw — and is the first woman to win the U.S. Open title without dropping a set since Serena Williams in 2014.

Raducanu, who was born in Toronto and moved to England with her family at age 2, also is the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977. Queen Elizabeth II sent a congratulatory note, hailing the victory as a “remarkable achievement at such a young age.”

There were more firsts, too, emblematic of what a rapid rise this was. For example: Raducanu is the youngest female Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova was 17 at Wimbledon in 2004.

This was the first major final between two teens since Williams, 17, beat Martina Hingis, 18, at the 1999 U.S. Open; the first between two unseeded women in the professional era, which began in 1968.

Fernandez, whose 19th birthday was Monday and who is ranked 73rd, was asked during a pre-match interview in the hallway that leads from the locker room to the court entrance what she expected Saturday’s greatest challenge to be.

“Honestly,” she responded, “I don’t know.”

Fair. Neither she nor Raducanu could have.

This was only Fernandez’s seventh major tournament; she hadn’t made it past the third round before.

As tears welled in her eyes after the final, she told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd: “I hope to be back here in the finals and this time with a trophy — the right one.”

Moments later, she asked for the microphone so she could address the 23,703 spectators again on the anniversary of 9-11.

“I just want to say that I hope I can be as strong and as resilient as New York has been the last 20 years,” said Fernandez, born a year before the terrorist attacks. “Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for cheering for me.”

Both she and Raducanu displayed the poise and shot-making of veterans at the U.S. Open — not two relative newcomers whose previous head-to-head match came in the second round of the Wimbledon juniors event just three years ago.

The talent and affinity for the big stage both possess is unmistakable.

One of the significant differences on this day: Fernandez put only 58% of her first serves in play and finished with five double-faults, helping Raducanu accumulate 18 break points.

“I, unfortunately, made one too many mistakes in key moments,” Fernandez said, “and she took advantage of it.”

Raducanu broke to go up 4-2 in the second set, held for 5-2 and twice was a point from winning the title in the next game. But under pressure from Fernandez, she let both of those opportunities slip away by putting groundstrokes into the net.

Then, while serving for the match at 5-3, Raducanu slid on the court chasing a ball to her backhand side, bloodying her left knee while losing a point to give Fernandez break chance. Raducanu was ordered by chair umpire Marijana Veljovic to stop playing so a trainer could put a white bandage on the cut.

So what went through Raducanu’s mind during that delay of more than four minutes at a critical juncture?

“Was really trying to think what my patterns of play were going to be, what I was going to try to execute,” she said. “Going out there facing a break point after a … disruption isn’t easy. I think I managed, for sure, to really pull off the clutch plays when I needed to.”

As if she’d been there before, Raducanu saved a pair of break points after the resumption, then converted on her third chance to close it out with a 108 mph ace. She dropped her racket, landed on her back and covered her face with both hands.

Eventually, she made her way into the stands to celebrate with her coach and others.

“That’s something that you always think of, you always work for,” she said.

Fernandez’s group — including two sisters and Mom but not Dad, who stayed home in Florida, where they moved after her early success in the juniors several years ago — was in the guest box on the opposite end of the court, the one assigned to the higher-ranked player.

That’s a status Fernandez was unaccustomed to as she beat four seeded women in a row, each in three sets: defending champion Naomi Osaka and 2016 champ Angelique Kerber, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 5 Elina Svitolina.

That meant Fernandez came in having spent more than 12 1/2 hours on court through her six matches; Raducanu’s main-draw total was about 7 1/2 hours.

That seemed to be a factor, particularly over the second half of the 1-hour, 51-minute final.

From 4-all in the opening set, Raducanu took eight of the last 11 games. When she broke to take that set with a well-paced, well-placed forehand winner down the line, she stared at her entourage, then whipped her arms — and the fans reacted.

Raducanu’s only previous Grand Slam tournament came at Wimbledon, where she stopped playing during the fourth round because of trouble breathing. That was in July, when Raducanu was ranked outside the top 300 and an unknown.

And now? She will rise into the WTA’s top 25. She earned $2.5 million. She is famous in Britain and the world over. She is now, and forever, a Grand Slam champion.

How quickly everything has changed. – AP

Tags: Emma RaducanuLeyla FernandezUS Open Women
Previous Post

Title rivals Verstappen and Hamilton crash out of Italian GP F1

Next Post

Blackpink’s Lisa changed her name for good luck and it worked

Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times

Related Posts

Ohtani’s Japan teammates, like Lars Nootbaar, are also fans
Sports

Ohtani’s Japan teammates, like Lars Nootbaar, are also fans

March 8, 2023
Klinsmann hired to coach South Korea’s national soccer team
Sports

Klinsmann hired to coach South Korea’s national soccer team

February 27, 2023
Man United targets more trophies after winning League Cup
Sports

Man United targets more trophies after winning League Cup

February 27, 2023
Tiger Woods plans to play the Masters and thinks he can win
Sports

Tiger Woods returns to golf with the same belief he can win

February 15, 2023
Sports

Mercedes intent on giving Hamilton new contract, winning car

February 15, 2023
Mahomes, Chiefs beat Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII
Sports

Mahomes, Chiefs beat Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII

February 13, 2023
Next Post
Blackpink’s Lisa changed her name for good luck and it worked

Blackpink's Lisa changed her name for good luck and it worked

Signup Free E-Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Apr 7
8:00 am - 3:30 pm

Symposium on Asia-USA Partnership Opportunities (SAUPO) 2023

May 6
9:00 am - 4:00 pm

GAT AAPI Summit 2023

View Calendar
Logo

 

CONTACT US

Follow Us

MOST INFLUENTIAL

GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans Gala celebrates Asian voice

GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans Gala celebrates Asian voice

July 18, 2022

Video highlights of GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia

July 17, 2022

2022 GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia-Awards Gala

July 17, 2022

LINKS OF INTEREST

ATL Asian Film Festival

     

  • Contact Us
  • Advertise in GAT
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

© 2023 Georgia Asian Times - Empowered by 8SOL. Managed by Arckopolis.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Metro Asian News
  • Misc Asia
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Art
  • Health
  • Eat Out
  • Events
  • Podcasts

© 2023 Georgia Asian Times - Empowered by 8SOL. Managed by Arckopolis.

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Loading
Loading
Loading

    Register for FREE to read the rest of this article, or log in to your account.

      Or Login Here :

      Login

      Are you sure want to unlock this post?
      Unlock left : 0
      Are you sure want to cancel subscription?