Bianca Andreescu wins U.S. Open, defeating Serena Williams

NEW YORK — Margaret Court’s record will have to wait, again.

In her latest Grand Slam setback, Serena Williams was defeated, 6-3, 7-5, in the women’s final of the U.S. Open on Saturday by Bianca Andreescu, a 19-year-old Canadian who has shown no fear against her elders during her breakthrough season.

Andreescu’s victory made her the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title. She won it in her first U.S. Open — she lost in the first round of qualifying the past two years — and it was a sign of how far she had come in a hurry that her victory over Williams was no great surprise to those who follow professional tennis.

Andreescu is 8-0 against top 10 players this year and has not lost a completed match since March 1. She missed a long stretch of tournament play because of a rotator cuff tear in her shoulder but has dominated draws when healthy.

“It’s so hard to explain in words,” Andreescu said at the post-match awards ceremony. “I’m just beyond grateful and truly blessed. I’ve worked really, really hard for this moment. I can’t complain. This year has been a dream come true, and now being able to play on this stage against Serena, a true legend of the sport, is amazing.”

She has prevailed twice in the last month against Williams, the greatest player of this era. Andreescu won the Rogers Cup in Toronto when Williams retired with a back problem in the final after just four games, and she defeated Williams on Saturday in the biggest stadium in tennis.

She could easily have cracked. Playing superbly and showing few signs of nerves despite the occasion, she led by 6-3, 5-1 and served for the match against the floundering Williams.

But Williams fought back in that game, saving a championship point with a winner and then breaking Andreescu’s serve to get back to 5-2. With the crowd a factor again, Williams reeled off the next three games to get to 5-5 before Andreescu steadied herself to hold to 6-5.

She then broke Williams’ serve for the sixth time in the match and finished off her remarkable victory and tournament with a forehand winner. As if emerging from a trance, she dropped her racket, turned slowly to her team in the stands and walked slowly to the net for a warm and gracious handshake with Williams.

“I know you guys wanted Serena to win, so I’m so sorry,” Andreescu said to the crowd after the match. “Obviously it was expected for Serena to fight back. She’s done that so many times in the past. That’s why she’s a true champion on and off the court, but I just tried my best to block everything out. The last game wasn’t easy. She started serving way better, too. Balls were going all over the place. I’m just glad with how I managed really.”

Andreescu, the self-assured daughter of Romanian immigrants, has quite a story, and she kept the 37-year-old Williams from adding another triumphant chapter to a fine one of her own.

A victory would have allowed Williams to tie Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, but she remains at 23, as she has since winning the 2017 Australian Open when she was pregnant with her daughter, Olympia.

“Bianca played an unbelievable match,” Williams said in her post-match remarks to the crowd and to Andreescu, who was standing calmly beside her. “Congratulations. So proud and happy for you. I wish I could have played better. If anyone could win the tournament, outside of Venus, I’m happy it’s Bianca.”

After giving birth in September and enduring potentially fatal health complications, Williams returned to competition in 2018. She has had undeniable success since her comeback, reaching four Grand Slam singles finals, but she has lost all four and has yet to win a title at any level of the tour during that span.

Andreescu’s victory was a flashback to 20 years ago when Williams won her first major singles title, sweeping through a brutal draw at age 17 to win the U.S. Open.

But Andreescu’s victory was also a flashback, in some ways, to last year when Naomi Osaka, a 20-year-old playing in her first major final, defeated Williams at the U.S. Open.

Like Osaka in 2018, Andreescu won the first title of her career at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March and then won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open against Williams.

After shaking Williams’ hand, she put both hands to her head and then dropped to the blue court and lay on her back, arms and legs wide with the last ball used in the match resting nearby. Once she rose to her feet, she quickly climbed into the stands to celebrate with her team, including her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, and her parents.

“I believe in you; I believe in you,” Bruneau said as they embraced.

Andreescu, seeded No. 15 at Flushing Meadows, will break into the top 10 in the rankings at No. 5 on Monday, and Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’ longtime coach, believes she is headed higher.

“I think she’s going to be No. 1 soon,” Mouratoglou said before the final. “Not too soon but in the future, because she has everything that’s needed.”

It is easy to understand the enthusiasm. Andreescu has power and speed but also a precociously complete game with a pronounced and unusual taste for changing paces, spins and trajectories during rallies. She is comfortable blasting from the backcourt, defending with slice in the corners or attacking the net and knocking off points with volleys or her fine overhead.

She also has a good serve and, to complete the new-age package, a taste for competition.

“She’s a warrior, and she’s a street fighter,” Bruneau said before the match.

So is Williams, who has acquired fame and fortune with her talent but also with her powerful internal drive. She is the little sister who always had a big target and role model to chase in her older sibling Venus, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles of her own.

But Serena Williams is a genuine tennis elder now, the oldest women’s Grand Slam singles finalist in the Open era. She will turn 38 later this month.

But the number that matters most at the moment remains 24.