2025 US Open Women’s Final Preview: Leylah Fernandez vs. Emma Raducanu
The first all-teen final in Flushing Meadows since 1999 pits two spirited youngsters in search of major glory. Who will rise to the occasion?
This US Open has been suffused with a spirit of rebirth and renewal, so it seems fitting that on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, two players who hadn’t yet been born on the day of that event would be contesting the women’s final.
If you like fresh faces and clean slates in sports—and really, who doesn’t?—Fernandez vs. Raducanu is the Grand Slam final for you. As recently as two weeks ago, few people in New York had ever heard either of their names. After losing in the final of a small tournament in Chicago to Clara Tauson, the 150th-ranked Raducanu started in the qualifying event at Flushing Meadows. Fernandez, meanwhile, came to the Open having lost in the first round at her last three tournaments. At her home event in Canada, she lost to 121st-ranked Harriet Dart in straight sets.
Since then, the 18-year-old Raducanu and the 19-year-old Fernandez have been unbeatable. Together, they’ve turned a US Open that was already brimming with energy into something magical. It’s as if the return of fans to Flushing necessitated a complete break with the past in tennis, at least for two weeks.
