US Open Tennis 2021 Women’s Final Schedule, Prediction and Prize Money

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The winner of the 2021 U.S. Open women’s singles tournament will be a teenager who had never even reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event before. Who could have predicted this?

The fourth and final major tournament of the year has been filled with surprises on the women’s side, resulting in a matchup between Leylah Fernandez, a Canadian 19-year-old, and Emma Raducanu, a British 18-year-old, in Saturday’s final. One of these two unseeded players will be leaving the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City as a Grand Slam champion.

It’s the first time that the U.S. Open women’s final has featured a pair of teenagers since 1999, when Serena Williams (then 17) defeated Martina Hingis (then 18).

Here’s everything else you need to know heading into the women’s singles final at this year’s U.S. Open.

Women’s Final Information

Date: Saturday, Sept. 11

Start Time: 4 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Prize Money: The winner will receive $2.5 million, with the runner-up getting $1.25 million.

Preview, Prediction

Prior to this event, Fernandez had made only six appearances at major tournaments and had never made it past the third round. And she’s the more experienced of the two players in Saturday’s final.

Raducanu made her debut at a Grand Slam event at Wimbledon earlier this summer, when she reached the fourth round. Now, she could potentially win a championship at her second career major tournament.

This is an unlikely encounter, but it’s happening because these two knocked out a bunch of top players and made impressive runs through the bracket, particularly Fernandez.

Over the past four rounds, Fernandez has defeated No. 3-seeded Naomi Osaka, No. 16 Angelique Kerber, No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Each of those four matches went a full three sets and featured Fernandez winning one set in a tiebreaker.

On Thursday, Fernandez continued her surprise run by knocking off Sabalenka, rallying for a 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 victory. Yet again, Fernandez advanced in thrilling fashion.

“I’m glad that whatever I’m doing on court, the fans are loving it—and I’m loving it, too,” Fernandez said, per Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press. “We’ll say it’s magical.”

Raducanu’s run has been pretty special, too. But she’s made it this far in dominant fashion. She has yet to drop a set during the tournament in six matches. Not only that, but none of her opponents have even won more than four games in any of those sets.

Although Raducanu hasn’t faced quite as tough competition, she’s knocked off some strong players, including No. 11 Belinda Bencic and No. 17 Maria Sakkari in the past two rounds. Raducanu defeated Sakkari 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals to reach this point.

“I’ve just been taking care of each day, and before you know it, three weeks later, I’m in the final and I can’t believe it,” Raducanu said, per Fendrich.

As entertaining as it’s been to watch both of these teenagers excel, one of them has to lose.

Expect the final to be the first three-set match that Raducanu has played, because neither of these women are going to go down without a strong fight. It should be a competitive match that features at least one tiebreaker (which has been the norm for Fernandez), and it truly could go either way.

However, Fernandez may be better prepared after facing the likes of Sabalenka, Osaka and Svitolina. And because of that, she’ll notch the win by pulling away late in the third set and closing out her incredible run with one final impressive victory.

Prediction: Fernandez wins in three sets