This may surprise many, considering how fresh and new Emma Raducanu was when she won the US Open title. Still, Emma Raducanu is only the eighth youngest female Grand Slam champion. Playing in only Emma Raducanu’s second Grand Slam, the 18-year-old from Kent won all 20 sets she played in the qualifiers and the main draw, becoming the first Briton to win a Grand Slam title solo since Virginia Wade. , lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 1977. Emma Raducanu won as an 18-year-old rookie in the competition, but she also made history by becoming the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
No qualifying athlete has yet reached a Grand Slam final. Emma Raducanu became the first woman to win the title in just two tournaments and the youngest since Maria Sharapova‘s Wimbledon triumph in 2004. Wimbledon, where she became the youngest Brit in the open era to reach the fourth round.
Emma Raducan once again excelled, beating 19-year-old Canadian Layla Fernandez with remarkable success and composure. In the first US Open final between two unseeded players, 18-year-old Emma Raducanu won her first Grand Slam by defeating 19-year-old Leyla Fernandez in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. The final mirrored each of their US Open tournaments for the young couple, with Fernandez fighting from behind, adapting accordingly in real-time, and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu clinging to control the match, keeping calm precise with every shot.
Emma Raducanu defeated Vitalia Diatchenko, Marketa Vondrousova and Sorana Kirstya without dropping a set, becoming the youngest Briton to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Championship era, beating Deborah Jevans. Both Canadian junior Layla Fernandez and British junior Emma Raducanu displayed veterans’ grit and shooting skills at the US Open rather than two relative rookies whose previous head-to-head match came in the second round of junior Wimbledon three years ago. The two teenagers had never met at the senior level before. However, Emma Raducanu won in straight sets when they met in the second round of Wimbledon Women’s Singles a few years ago.
Swiss legend Martina Hingis broke the 1990 French Open record of 16 years 189 days for fellow tennis icon Monica Seles to become the youngest ever Grand Slam champion. Iva Majoli shocked Martina Hingis by winning her only Grand Slam title at the 1997 French Open at 19 years and 299 days, breaking Hingis’ streak of 37 straight victories and handing Switzerland their first Grand Slam final loss. She won the 1997 Australian Open at just 16 years and three months old, defeating Mary Pierce in the final and supporting her. She also won Wimbledon that year and became the youngest singles champion in over 100 years. The first of eight Grand Slams came when Monica Seles was 16 when she defeated Steffi Graf in the thrilling final of the 1990 French Open.
