Raducanu and Fernandez set up battle of teens
Britains Raducanu stuns Sakkari to reach the final
It will be the Big Apple battle of teenagers in Saturday’s US Open final after Britain’s Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to reach the title clash at a major, joining Canadian Leylah Fernandez as the duo continued their giant-killing spree.
The final under the lights at the colossal Arthur Ashe Stadium between Fernandez and Raducanu will be the first major final in the Open Era across both the men’s and women’s game to feature two unseeded players.
It will also mark the first Grand Slam final to be contested by two teenagers since the 1999 US Open between Serena Williams and Martina Hingis. Both Raducanu, 18, and Fernandez, who turned 19 this week, were yet to be born then.
“We first encountered each other because I was born in Toronto and she was Canadian, so we kind of, like, made a little relationship back then,” said Raducanu, whose parents moved to England when she was two-years-old.
“But, yeah, then I played her at junior Wimbledon. Obviously since then we’ve both come very far in our games and as people. Yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be extremely different to when we last encountered each other.”
Raducanu will be hoping for a similar outcome, though. The pair’s previous meeting came in the second round of the Wimbledon juniors in 2018, when Raducanu won 6-2 6-4.
Fernandez was the first to book her spot with yet another upset on Thursday as she took down second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4 in the first semi-final.
Raducanu wasted little time joining her, wrapping up her contest against Greek Maria Sakkari 6-1 6-4 in 84 minutes to become the first British woman to reach a major final since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
Djokovic faces Zverev
Novak Djokovic’s US Open semi-final showdown with Olympic champion Alexander Zverev to try and reach the brink of a Grand Slam will be last night’s feature at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Scheduling announced Thursday by the US Tennis Association will send Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev and Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime off in the afternoon semi-final.