The new that advances in great strides. It doesn't take much to provide a faithful representation of the women's US Open tennis final. At Flushing Meadows, Canadian Leylah Fernandez was for a few hours the youngest player in a slam final since the Russian Maria Sharapova in 2004, thanks to the success in three sets against the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, number 2 in the world. The record, however, was rewritten by the British Emma Raducanu, also like the rival born in 2002, but born in November. And so, New York, the most unpredictable final matured on the eve of the stars and stripes tournament, which for the first time saw a player who started from qualifying to the final of a slam tournament.
The company was signed by Raducanu, who defeated Schoofs, Bolkvadze, Sherif in the qualifications; then Voegele, Zhang, Sorribes, Rogers, Bencic and Sakkari in the main draw. An event that will remain sculpted on the walls of the skyscrapers of the Big Apple. The very young tennis player, a Chinese mother and a Romanian father, impressed with the show of strength in the match with the Greek Sakkari who, beyond the first four games, was overwhelmed by a complete tennis player: equipped with an insidious serve, a response heavy, but above all with an impressive backhand. The Greek, lost the first set 6-1 and went immediately under a break also in the second, had to work overtime so that the loss was not even more consistent.
The Us Open 2021 has thus become the tournament for teenagers, but of the highest level. Since 1999, a women's final in Flushing Meadows did not see two such young athletes against each other: then it happened to Serena Williams and Martina Hingis. Now it is the turn of Raducanu and Fernandez to give life to a final that promises sparks. "I'm in the final and I can't believe it - said Raducanu -, then since I come from qualifying I shouldn't technically feel any pressure for the final".
"I just wanted to reach a final - the words of Fernandez -, to worry about how it will go I'll think about it at the moment".
One thing is certain: in the States it was they who proved to be the strongest in world tennis at the moment and at this point the prediction is more open than ever.