Raducanu v Fernandez predictions & tennis betting tips for the US Open final

Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for the women's final at the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York City.

Where to watch

Channel 4 & Amazon Prime, 9pm Saturday

Best bet

Emma Raducanu to beat Leylah Fernandez
1pt 4-6 bet365

Preview

In one of the unlikeliest Grand Slam singles finals of all time, 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu will meet Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who has turned 19 in the course of this major, in the US Open trophy match in New York City on Saturday.

It's a phenomenal achievement from two remarkable young women with markedly different game styles. But while Fernandez has shown in the last couple of years that she has the attitude, temperament and dedication to get to the top, the bigger story of the pair is Raducanu.

Also Canada-born, Orpington-based qualifier Raducanu, who has never faced a match point against her in a Slam and withdrew due to feeling unwell during her fourth-round outing at Wimbledon this summer, has absolutely demolished every opponent on her first competitive visit to Flushing Meadows as an adult.

In the qualifiers Bibiane Schoofs, Mariam Bolkvadze and Mayar Sherif barely had a chance, while in the main draw Stefanie Voegele, Shuai Zhang, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Shelby Rogers, Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari were all then summarily despatched in straight sets.

Only Fernandez, who was a 900-1 shot before the tournament started, stands between 400-1 chance Raducanu and the women's singles trophy. And while Montreal native Fernandez looks sure to give her Toronto-born opponent a tougher time than many of Raducanu's early-round foes, there has to be a doubt that the player still resident in Canada will be able to survive the onslaught that is highly likely to come her way.

It's no surprise to see oddsmakers, who will be cock-a-hoop over the state of their outright markets, find in favour of Raducanu. They know they have to structure the market as many British punters will want to back their latest sporting star on the big day.

But if Raducanu's temperament holds up on the most significant workday in her short career, the final could still prove one-sided, however much Fernandez has to throw at the Briton.

Fernandez has improved what was a powder-puff serve in recent months to a much better standard, but in sets two and three of her gallant semi-final victory over second seed Aryna Sabalenka the world number 73's serve still looked hugely vulnerable. Not that Sabalenka, who had service issues of her own, could take advantage.

Even against high-quality opponents Bencic and Sakkari, world number 150 Raducanu, who is already guaranteed to be British number one following her exploits in the Big Apple, won 69 and 73 per cent of her first serves and those stats were backed up by a reliable second-serve success figure of 69 in her semi-final triumph.

Fernandez has seen off even greater tennis royalty including Ana Konjuh, Kaia Kanepi, 2018 and 2020 US Open champion Naomi Osaka, 2016 NYC heroine Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina and Sabalenka. But while it's obviously difficult to pick holes in Fernandez's game, Raducanu could exploit, for example, the fact that just 55 per cent of her opponent's first serves were in during her quarter-final dismissal of Svitolina.

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