Dominating and Mesmerizing! Emma Raducanu becomes the first qualifier to reach a grand slam final, beats Maria Sakkari
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Emma Raducanu
In yet another dominating performance, 18-year old Emma Raducanu thrashes Maria Sakkari in the semifinal of the 2021 US Open to reach her maiden grand slam final on her US Open debut. The Brit beat Sakkari in straight sets 6-1,6-4 in over an hour.
Raducanu has been the story of the tournament so far and hasn’t dropped a set since the qualifiers. She is 18-0 up and is smashing records almost every match that she progresses. She made headlines at Wimbledon 2 months back where she received a last minute wild card and reached the fourth round of the tournament despite being ranked outside the top 300.
She came in New York ranked No.150 in the world and had to go through the qualifiers. Since then, she has absolutely dominated the tennis court, beating the likes of Shelby Rogers, Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari.
In the semifinal against Sakkari, she once again had a positive start. Her serve was on song and she exploited Sakkari’s backhand. She took a double break’s lead and stormed to a 5-0 lead in just 27 minutes. She won the opening set comfortably 6-1.
The second set too was dominated by Raducanu but the Greek showed some resistance. The 17th seed saved multiple break points and but at last handed a break to the Brit, which proved decisive for the set. Raducanu eventually held her nerve and served out the set 6-4 to script history and become the first ever player to reach a major final as a qualifier.
She will now face Leylah Fernandez in an all-teenage final on Saturday for the Championship.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)