(Reuters) – Factbox on Britain’s Emma Raducanu, who beat Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 in the U.S. Open final on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam title:
Age: 18
Nation: Britain
WTA ranking: 150
Seeding: Unseeded
Grand Slam titles: 1 (U.S. Open 2021)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: beat Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) 6-2 6-3
Second round: beat Shuai Zhang (China) 6-2 6-4
Third round: beat Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spain) 6-0 6-1
Fourth round: beat Shelby Rogers (U.S.) 6-2 6-1
Quarter-finals: beat 11-Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-3 6-4
Semi-finals: beat 17-Maria Sakkari (Greece) 6-1 6-4
EARLY LIFE
* Born to a Romanian father and Chinese mother in Toronto, Canada, Raducanu moved to London aged two and started playing tennis aged five.
CAREER TO DATE
* Turned professional in 2018, reaching the top 20 at the junior level.
* Won three International Tennis Federation titles.
* Made her WTA tournament debut at the grasscourt event in Nottingham in June 2021.
* Came to prominence when she made her Grand Slam main draw debut at Wimbledon in July 2021. After entering the tournament as a wildcard ranked 338th in the world, she progressed to the fourth round where she retired against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic after suffering breathing difficulties.
* Reached final of the WTA 125K event in Chicago in August 2021.
* Qualified for the 2021 U.S. Open main draw after posting straight set wins in all three qualifying rounds.
* Ranked 150th in the world, she became first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. She won the U.S. Open title without dropping a set — either in qualifying or in her seven main draw matches.
* Became the first British woman to win the U.S. Open since Virginia Wade triumphed in 1968 and the first to capture a Grand Slam title since Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
* Projected to move up to 24th in the world rankings on Monday after winning the U.S. Open, ending Johanna Konta’s 310-week reign as the top ranked British woman.
(Compiled by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
