Bianca Andreescu not only became the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam title, but she also became the first player born in the 21st Century to claim a singles Grand Slam championship. She did this at the US Open in 2019.
Andreescu had straight sets victories in her first three matches as she got rid of American Katie Volynets, Belgian Kirsten Flipkens and former world number Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark.
Things were a little difficult in the fourth round as she needed three sets to defeat American qualifier Taylor Townsend.
She faced another Belgian, Elise Mertens, in the quarter-finals. She lost the first set, but went on to win the match in three sets.
In the semi-finals against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, Andreescu won 7-6 (3), 7-5. That put her against Serena Williams in the final. Andreescu emerged victorious in the final, defeating the American, looking for her 24th Grand Slam singles title, 6-3, 7-5. With that, she collected her first Grand Slam singles title. She, however, chose not to defend her title in 2020 as she withdrew from the tournament.
DID YOU KNOW?
When Serena Williams won the first of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles so far on September 11, 1999 in the US Open, Bianca Andreescu wasn’t born yet. Andreescu was born nine months later, on June 16, 2000, when an 18-year-old Serena was taking the tennis world by storm.
Nineteen years later, the two were facing each other in a final, accounting for the biggest age gap until then in a Grand Slam final in the Open era (1968 onwards).
Andreescu’s achievement is even more remarkable given the fact that she was ranked 208 a year before this final and was making her main-draw debut in the US Open that year. In fact, she was the first player to win the US Open on her main-draw debut.
Picture Credit : Google
