Emma Raducanu is one match away from winning the US Open after making history as the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final.
Raducanu, 18, earned a place in the record books by defeating 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets during a stunning semi-finalon Thursday night.
Now the British tennis sensation, ranked 150th in the world, will face Canadian rival, Leylah Fernandez, 19, in the fight for the title at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.
It will be the first major final between two teens since the 1999 US Open, which saw Serena Williams, 17, thrash 18-year-old Martina Hingis.
Here’s 10 reasons why Raducanu can claim victory in tonight’s match.
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The Duchess of Cambridge has wished the teenage British tennis ace the ‘best of luck’ ahead of the US Open final
She hasn’t dropped a single set
Raducanu became the first player this century to make the second week of her first two Grand Slam main draw appearances.
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Over nine matches, including three qualifying games, to reach the main draw, Raducanu has yet to concede a single set at Flushing Meadows.
Meanwhile, Fernandez has been forced to play three sets in her last four matches.
No pressure
Both Raducanu and Fernandez are unseeded at the US Open, and appear unflustered by better-known and more successful challengers.
But when asked about expectation to win the final, Raducanu joked: “I’m a qualifier so there’s no pressure on me!”
“Fearless” youth
Raducanu is the youngest Slam finalist since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon, aged 17, in 2004.
Sakkari, 26, said of both US Open finalists: “They are both young. They play fearless.
“They have nothing to lose playing against us.”
And Raducanu agrees: “Being young, there is an element of you do play completely free.”
Evenly matched
Neither has reached a Grand Slam final, meaning it will be an equally new experience for both.
Fernandez’s best past performance at a Slam was reaching the third round at Roland Garros last year.
Previous victory
Both women first met when they were playing in under-12 tournaments – before clashing in the Wimbledon junior tournament’s second round in 2018.
Raducanu won three years ago – with fans believing she can do the same again when they share a court for the first time in a tour-level match, albeit with much more at stake.
Stamina
Raducanu has already proved she is fresher than Fernandez.
Despite playing nine games compared to her opponent’s six, the Brit has spent less time on court – beating all of her competitors in less time than the Canadian’s shortest win, one hour and 45 minutes, over Croatian Ana Konjuh in the opening round.
Raducanu obliterated Sakkari, a highly experienced rival, in 84 minutes in what has been hailed a “gladiatorial” performance.
Star quality
Virginia Wade, the last British woman to reach this stage of the US Open 53 years ago, is in no doubt of Raducanu’s talent.
“She is a star, no question,” Wade told Sky News.
“I think that she’s one of the people who looks good young and will always be one of the top contenders.”
Pride of Britain
Raducanu, the youngest British major finalist in 62 years, can count on the nation’s support, with Kate Middleton, Boris Johnson, Liam Gallagher and Marcus Rashford congratulating the teen on her semi-final win.
The Duchess of Cambridge praised Raducanu’s “incredible achievement”, tweeting: “We will all be rooting for you.”
Self-belief
Raducanu told Sky News how she was “feeling good” when she arrived for a practice session ahead of the US Open final on Friday.
But despite her extraordinary achievements, Raducanu remains extremely humble.
Speaking on court after her win, she said: “I knew I had some sort of level inside of me that was similar to these girls, but I didn’t know if I was able to maintain it over a set or over two sets.
“To be able to do it and play the best players in the world and beat them, I honestly can’t believe it.”
And she has credited her “amazing” team in New York for her incredible success.
Fame and fortune
Before reaching the US Open, Raducanu’s career winnings totalled around £219,591.
But her place in the final has guaranteed her a runners up prize of at least £900,000 – while winning the title would earn her £1.8m.
Now she is on course to eclipse the popularity of many fellow sports stars, with some tipping her to be as “famous and well-known as Rihanna” – while her success has already earned her a feature in British Vogue.
A Jewish campaign group has cancelled today’s Walk Together demonstration amid safety concerns, as the Met Police says the risk of disorder from a pro-Palestinian march is not high enough to seek a ban.
Thousands had been expected to attend the event in central London as part of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) event, which would have coincided with today’s pro-Palestinian march.
The CAA said it cancelled the event, where people would have walked “where they please”, after receiving “numerous threats” and identifying “hostile actors (who) seem to have intended to come to any meeting locations that we announced”.
It added: “The risk to the safety of those who wished to walk openly as Jews in London… as part of this initiative has therefore become too great.
“We are no less angry about these marches than our Jewish community and its allies. We want to walk.”
The CAA said it had suggested “concrete measures” to government aimed at changing how the pro-Palestinian protests are policed.
It highlighted concerns over antisemitic chants, inflammatory placards, and instances of glorifying terrorism, as well as incidents of violence, including attacks on police officers.
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“Police have told us that they intend to handle the march no differently from the passive way that they have become accustomed to over the course of more than six months,” the group added.
But the Met’s assistant commissioner, Matt Twist, said the force aimed to police “without fear or favour”, adding that the impact of the weekly pro-Palestinian protests was “felt widely” but had been a “particular cause of fear and uncertainty in Jewish communities”.
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Mr Twist added that pro-Palestinian protests had “never” reached the threshold where it was a “risk of serious public disorder”.
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Extended video of ‘openly Jewish’ row
He said: “The only legal route to ban a march is if there is a risk of serious public disorder – that is rioting or serious violence that could not be dealt with by other restrictions or conditions.
“We have never got close to that threshold on these Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) marches to date.”
The CAA had announced its Walk Together after its chief executive, Gideon Falter, was prevented from crossing a road near a pro-Palestinian protest by a police officer last week because he was “openly Jewish”.
Footage showed a tense, lengthy stand-off between police and Mr Falter as one Met officer described his presence as “antagonising”.
The campaigner then spoke to another officer who said if he remained in the area, he would be arrested.
After the incident, Mr Falter was critical of the Metand said there were “no-go zones for Jews”, while Scotland Yard apologised twice for the officer’s choice of words.
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Standoff between protesters in London
The PSC protest today, which organisers claim could attract “hundreds of thousands” of protesters, will take place on a pre-agreed route.
Simultaneously, a separate demonstration arranged by the pro-Israel Enough is Enough group will go ahead following a route parallel to the PSC march.
The Met Police said 450 arrests have been made since the pro-Palestinian marches began, with 193 of those being for antisemitic offences, the majority involving placards, chanting or expressions of hate speech.
The cost of policing the protests stands at approximately £38.5m, the Met added.
The King’s constitutional work has continued, but the public outings were stopped.
His family has stepped up to support him, and protocols were in place should the need arise.
But it has been an incredibly challenging time for the House of Windsor.
News of the Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis a double blow for the family.
There remains a lot of uncertainty; the King won’t return to full duties, and his engagements will be adapted to reduce the risk while he recovers. There’s also no confirmation yet about the big set piece events like Trooping the Colour or an overseas state visit.
But this is a significant moment. And the King’s return to public work will start with a personally poignant visit, as he and the Queen meet patients and staff at a cancer treatment centre.
The deaths of the Reading terror attack victims were “probably avoidable” and contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies, an inquest has found.
Friends James Furlong, 36, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and David Wails, 49, were stabbed to death by Khairi Saadallah, now 29, in Forbury Gardens on 20 June 2020.
Three other people were also injured before Saadallah, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), threw away the eight-inch knife and ran off, pursued by an off-duty police officer.
Saadallah was handed a whole-life sentence at the Old Bailey in January 2021 after pleading guilty to the three murders and three attempted murders.
Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford today delivered his findings on the killings of history teacher Mr Furlong, pharmaceuticals manager Mr Ritchie-Bennett, and scientist Mr Wails.
Mr Fulford said the deaths “probably would have been avoidable” if the mental health service had given “greater priority to stabilising [Saadallah] and securing access to long-term psychological therapy”.
He added that if his “extremist risk had been better analysed”, Saadallah would probably then have been recalled to custody the day before the attacks, meaning they would never have happened.
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The coroner said the deaths of the three men were “contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies”.
Saadallah, who came to the country as a teenager from Libya, where he was trained to fight as a child soldier for a group now banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK, had a long history of offending and was released from prison on licence just 15 days before the attack.
The inquest heard six weeks of evidence looking at his management while he was in jail and on probation, his mental health and the assessment and response to his risk of terrorism.
The Old Bailey heard the Home Office dealt with Saadallah with “woeful inadequacy”, while he was referred to the government’s Prevent de-radicalisation programme four times.
MI5 “triaged” him on four separate occasions, once opening a “lead investigation”, but the security service said they found no evidence he planned to leave the country or commit an attack.
Saadallah had a string of previous convictions for offences including violence and possession of a knife, and spent repeated spells in jail between 2015 and 2020.
Prison intelligence reports showed a pattern of fighting, threats to staff, self-harming and suspected drug use, along with references to extremism.
A counsellor said she “harassed” mental health services to examine him in the year before the killings, while one probation officer broke down in court as she recalled unknowingly “managing an unconvicted murderer”.
The inquest also heard Thames Valley Police officers did not find a knife at Saadallah’s home during a “welfare check” the day before the attack after they were not told he was threatening to harm himself and others.
‘Catastrophically failed’
Mr Furlong’s father Gary said the victims’ families had listened with “shock and utter disappointment” to the evidence, which had led them to “fundamentally question” whether their faith in authorities to protect their loved ones was misplaced.
“Our boys did not stand a chance,” he said.
Dr Wails’s brother Andrew said UK state agencies had “catastrophically failed” in their duty to protect the public from Saadallah and that the attack “destroyed our lives”.
Calling Saadallah a “cowardly terrorist”, Andrew Wails said: “[He] had been a member of a proscribed terrorist group and murdered people, he confessed to throwing grenades at people in public places in Libya, yet he was let into the UK and allowed to remain here.”
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‘The state catastrophically failed in its duty’
Parallels to London Bridge stabbings
Nick Harborne, chief of Reading Refugee Support Group, also said the stabbings “could have been avoided” having warned various bodies about Saadallah months before the attack.
When the news of the stabbings broke, Mr Harborne “instantly knew it was Saadallah”.
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Reading attack ‘could have been avoided’
He said he had tried to communicate with Prevent, community mental health services, and the Probation Service, to notify them of Saadallah’s “potential for violence”.
Mr Harborne likened Saadallah’s trajectory to the terrorist Usman Khan who committed the 2019 London Bridge stabbings, and he referred to the attack in his communications with the various agencies.
“There is stuff we could all have done better… The tragedy didn’t have to happen,” he said.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe of Counter Terrorism Policing South said was “still work to do” to address the issues surrounding the case.
He added: “In this moment it is also important to reflect on the terrorist threat that we in UK policing and our partners face. It is significant and continually evolving.
“Many of the cases we are working on now involve people with complex mental health and social needs. We also are seeing more individuals with mixed or unclear ideology, who can be more difficult to assess and manage.”
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