Rebellion of young tennis players, US Open semifinals rewrites history

If someone had said 3 weeks ago that the final of the last Grand Slam of the season would feature two teenagers, one of whom would come through from the qualifiers, many would have smiled. However, that scenario has now become a reality. Canada’s Leylah Annie Fernandez will play for the trophy against Britain’s Emma Raducan.

19 years old vs. 18 years old. And Fernandez just turned 19 this week. In addition, her opponent became the first player in history to go from qualifying to the Grand Slam final. All without losing a single set. Raducan is also the first British woman in 44 years to be in contention for a Grand Slam title.

Let’s quickly recap the semifinal matches from Flushing Meadows. Raducan took on the conqueror of three of our tennis players, Maria Sakkari, and it was a beauty. The Brit won the first set 6-1 over the Greek and if she was nervous, you couldn’t tell. The second set was a bit more even, but unforced errors by Sakkari meant that she lost 6::4 and the young islander advanced.

Fernandez had an even tougher opponent on the other side of the net. The world number two, Belarusian Sabalenka, troubled the left-handed Canadian in every game, with the first set decided in a tiebreak. The second set was fought by Sabalenka and with the score at 1:1 in sets, the tiebreaker was again awaited in the final game.

The Canadian was leading 4::2, but then lost her serve and at 4::4 the tension could be cut. However, Fernandez managed to take the Belarusian’s serve at 5::4, which automatically meant the end.

It will be the match of a lifetime for both tennis players on Saturday from 21:00 CET. And both will improve not only financially but also in the rankings. Either way, the final will rewrite the historical tables.

Source: Livesport