Bianca burns brightly and a star is born
THE Duchess of Sussex flew across the Atlantic to see her friend pick up a 24th Grand Slam title but instead witnessed the birth of a new superstar in tennis.
In what was only her fifth Grand Slam main draw, Bianca Andreescu fought off a late recovery from Serena Williams to become the US Open champion at just 19. She turned in a command performance of bravery and skill to win 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 40 minutes.
Seeing a 5-1 lead disappear in the second set, she decisively broke for the sixth time on a third match point that saw her unleash a forehand return winner.
At least there was no behavioural drama this time around to detract from a superb display from the new champion.
With British royalty sitting prominently next to coach Patrick Mouratoglou there seemed little danger of any surreptitious hand signalling this time around.
Andreescu was trying to become the first Canadian woman in the post-1968 Open era to win a Grand Slam, and at 18 years and 263 days this was the largest age gap there has ever been between two finalists.
She quickly settled into her rhythm and was gifted a break in the first game when the crowd favourite double-faulted. After that there was a confident hold before Williams got herself on the board with a feisty game that saw her drill her opponent at close quarters at the net.
Andreescu was already showing how she can mix up her game and Williams went on to lose the first set on a double fault as the Canadian applied relentless pressure on the return. By the end of the opener her first serve was operating at a 50-percent success rate and it was clear she was doomed if she could not improve.
Andreescu was playing so well she had hit 12 winners — double her number of unforced errors, and all amid an electric atmosphere.
Williams was cursing her serve as she sat at the change of ends, but much good it did her. The teenager saved a break point in the second-set opener and then broke for 2-0 when presented with fourth double fault from the game’s greatest server ever.
The American finally got a break back for 2-1, but only courtesy of a fortunate net cord. She was again bemoaning her serve to her support box when she fell behind 3-1, with the versatile Andreescu still showing no signs of nerves. These started to appear as the finishing line came into view and began to poke their head through when Williams crunched a return winner on her match point at 5-1. Within 15 minutes it was level, with the crowd saluting every point for the home player like a last-gasp winner.
But, when she served to stay in the match, Andreescu sped to 15-40, 23 minutes after being on the cusp of victory. The next match point was saved by an ace, but the third got clubbed. The Canadian looks like someone who can do anything they want in this game.
She said afterwards: ‘It’s so hard to explain, but I’m just beyond grateful and truly blessed.’ A magnanimous Williams admitted: ‘Bianca played an unbelievable match.’