Emma Raducanu becomes first qualifier to ever reach a grand slam final

Emma Raducanu (YouTube)

Emma Raducanu of Bromley, England made more tennis history on Thursday. The 18-year-old became the first qualifier ever to reach a grand slam final according to Ryan Schick of the Last Word on Sports. Raducanu achieved the feat by beating Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals of the 2021 United States Open.

Raducanu was part of the fourth qualifier at the U.S. Open a week before the U.S. Open actually started. Seeded 31st among female players in qualifying, Raducanu defeated Bibiane Schoofs 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying, Mariam Bolkvadze of Georgia 6-3, 7-5 in the second round of qualifying, and then the fourth-seed qualifier Mayar Sherif of Egypt 6-1, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying.

Then once Raducanu reached the main draw, she has won six consecutive matches without dropping a set. In addition to beating Sakkari, she beat lucky loser Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3 in the first round, Shuai Zhang of China 6-2, 6-4 in the second round, Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-0, 6-1 in the third round, Shelby Rogers of the United States 6-2, 6-1 in the fourth round, and 11th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland (the Olympic gold medalist and 2019 U.S. Open semifinalist) 6-3, 6-4.

Raducanu will now face Leylah Annie Fernandez of Canada in the U.S. Open Final on Saturday in what could be the most unlikeliest grand slam final in tennis history. Raducanu is ranked 150th in the world, while Fernandez is 73rd. In the other semifinal, Fernandez upset the second seed, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. The story of the game was unforced errors as Sabalenka had a very sloppy match. She had a remarkable 52 unforced errors compared to only 23 for Fernandez.

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