Raducanu sets up all-teenager US Open final

The Latest on the US Open tennis tournament (US time):

11:45 pm

Emma Raducanu has set up an all-teenager US Open women’s final.

The 18-year-old from Britain beat No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari 6-1, 6-4, becoming the first player to come through qualifying to reach a Grand Slam final in the professional era.

She will play Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who turned 19 Monday, on Saturday.

If Raducanu wins, she will be the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 at 17.

10:55 pm

Emma Raducanu has rolled through the first set of her women’s semifinal.

The 18-year-old qualifier from Britain stormed past No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari 6-1 in 36 minutes.

Raducanu won the first five games and got help from Sakkari, who had 17 unforced errors to seven winners.

Raducanu was trying to become the youngest Grand Slam finalist since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 at 17.

10:25 pm

Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari are playing to determine who will meet Leylah Fernandez in the U.S. Open women’s final.

If Raducanu wins, it would set up an all-teenager final. The qualifier from Britain is 18. Fernandez just turned 19 this week.

The No. 17-seeded Sakkari from Greece is trying to reach her first Grand Slam final, having lost in the semifinals at the French Open.

10:20 pm

Billie Jean King and the pioneering Original 9 were honored at the US Open  for their induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The six members who were in attendance were presented rings on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court in between the women’s semifinal matches.

The women’s players signed $1 contracts with promoter Gladys Heldman in 1970, paving the way for the creation of a pro tour and increased prize money.

A video that featured Serena Williams and other female athletes such as basketball’s Sue Bird and soccer’s Abby Wambach was played in which they thanked the Original 9.

King said the players were willing to give up their careers so those after them would have a chance to play the sports they loved.

  9:40 pm                                                                         

Leylah Fernandez advanced to the US Open final by edging Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4.

Fernandez will become the second 19-year-old Canadian to play in the women’s final in Flushing Meadows in three years. Bianca Andreescu won the title in 2019.

After knocking out past US Open champions Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber along with No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina during her surprising run, Fernandez denied the second-seeded Sabalenka from playing in her first Grand Slam final.

Fernandez will play 18-year-old Emma Radacanu or Greece’s Maria Sakkari on Saturday.

9:15 pm

Diede de Groot is off to a strong start in hopes of completing a Golden Slam.

The No. 1 seed in the wheelchair women’s singles division beat Angelica Bernal of Colombia 6-2, 6-0 in her quarterfinal match.

De Groot won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year before winning a gold medal for the Netherlands in the Paralympics.

No tennis player has won all four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal in the same year since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Australian Dylan Alcott, trying to complete the same feat in the men’s quad singles division, had his opening match postponed by rain.

8:55 pm

Aryna Sabalenka has sent the first US Open women’s semifinal to a deciding set.

The No. 2 seed took the second set 6-4 to even the match against 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

Sabalenka broke Fernandez’s serve for a 5-4 lead and then served out the set, keeping alive her chances of reaching her first Grand Slam final.

Fernandez won the first set in a tiebreaker.

8:15 pm

Leylah Fernandez has won a tiebreaker in the first set to move halfway to the U.S. Open final.

The 19-year-old Canadian leads No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka after winning the final four points of the tiebreaker to take it 7-3.

Sabalenka appeared as if she would overpower Fernandez early, winning 12 of the first 14 points and racing to a 3-0 lead in just eight minutes.

But Fernandez steadied herself and then took advantage of some shaky play in the tiebreaker by Sabalenka, including an overhead she shanked far out of bounds and a double fault.

Sabalenka lost in the Wimbledon semifinals in her only other major semifinal.

7 pm

Leylah Fernandez has knocked out two of the top-five seeds in her surprising run to the U.S. Open semifinals.

Now the 19-year-old Canadian will try to upset another as she faces No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in a matchup that is starting under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Fernandez eliminated defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round and No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals. She also ousted another past Grand Slam champion in Angelique Kerber in between.

The roof at Ashe is open for their match after rain that lasted much of the day stopped. It forced the postponement of some juniors and wheelchair matches.

The second semifinal features another teenager, as 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain plays No. 17 Maria Sakkari of Greece.

3:45  pm

Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil have closed in on their second U.S. Open men’s doubles title by reaching the final.

The seventh-seeded duo defeated the eighth-seeded team of John Peers of Australia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the semifinals Thursday.

Murray and Soares will face Rajeev Ram of the U.S. and Joe Salisbury of Britain for the championship.

Murray, whose younger brother Andy is a three-time major singles champion, and Soares won the U.S. Open and Australian Open together in 2016.

Soares also teamed with Mate Pavic to claim the men’s doubles trophy at Flushing Meadows a year ago.

1:40 pm

Rajeev Ram of the U.S. and Joe Salisbury of Britain have reached their third Grand Slam men’s doubles final as a team.

Ram and Salisbury beat the American pair of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday with the retractable roof at Louis Armstrong Stadium closed because of rain.

The fourth-seeded duo of Ram and Salisbury won the 2020 Australian Open title and were the runners-up at Melbourne Park this year.

They now will meet the winners of the semifinal in New York pitting Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares against John Peers and Filip Polasek.

Soares and Murray won two Grand Slam titles together in 2016, including the U.S. Open. Soares was the 2020 men’s doubles champion at Flushing Meadows with Mate Pavic.

12:45 pm

A pair of unseeded teenagers will take the stage in the U.S. Open women’s semifinals: 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain and 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada.

The 73rd-ranked Fernandez takes on No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the first semifinal Thursday night. Play in that match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

That will be followed by the 150th-ranked Raducanu against No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece. Raducanu is the first female qualifier to get to the final four at the US Open in the professional era, which began in 1968.

None of the four women remaining in the tournament ever has played in a Grand Slam final.

Thursday’s schedule also includes the men’s doubles semifinals. It is raining at Flushing Meadows and the first doubles semifinal has started at Louis Armstrong Stadium with the retractable roof shut. Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey are facing Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Matches in the wheelchair and junior competition that were scheduled to start at noon are being delayed because of the rain, which is forecast for much of the afternoon and early evening.

Ashe and Armstrong are the only two courts with roofs.