US Open 2019 Final: Match Points

LEARNING

The US Open final will be a rematch of the Toronto final one month ago, the only previous occasion on which No.8 seed Serena Williams and No.15 seed Bianca Andreescu gave faced each other. In the match, Williams was forced to retire due to a back injury while trailing 1-3, handing Andreescu her second career title.

Serena Williams, who holds the Open Era record of 23 Grand Slam titles, would tie Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 with a win. Bianca Andreescu is bidding to lift a major trophy in just her fourth Grand Slam main draw, a feat only previously accomplished by Monica Seles at Roland Garros 1990.

Bianca Andreescu is the second Canadian woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era following Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up.

Serena Williams has a 23-9 record in Grand Slam finals, and 6-3 at the US Open with her only losses coming to Venus Williams (2001), Samantha Stosur (2011) and Naomi Osaka (2018) - but since returning from maternity leave last year, the former World No.1 is 0-3 in Grand Slam finals. Williams is also 4-4 against major final debutantes, with wins coming over Vera Zvonareva (Wimbledon 2010), Agnieszka Radwanska (Wimbledon 2012), Lucie Safarova (Roland Garros 2015) and Garbiñe Muguruza (Wimbledon 2015), and losses to Maria Sharapova (Wimbledon 2004), Samantha Stosur (US Open 2011), Angelique Kerber (Australian Open 2016) and Naomi Osaka (US Open 2018).

Bianca Andreescu is the first teenager to play the US Open final since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, but the second in 2019 following Marketa Vondrousova's run to the Roland Garros final. The 19-year-old is aiming to become the first teenage Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open, and at 19 years and two months the youngest since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2004 US Open.

Serena Williams is currently tied with Chris Evert for both the Open Era total of US Open trophies (six) and US Open match victories (101). A win in the final would put her out in front on her own in both statistics.

Bianca Andreescu will be the 17th different Grand Slam final opponent Serena Williams has faced in her career. Of those, Williams has a losing record against four (0-1 to Samantha Stosur, Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep, 1-2 to Angelique Kerber), a tied record of 1-1 against Garbiñe Muguruza and a winning record over the remaining 12 (7-2 over Venus Williams, 3-1 over Maria Sharapova, 2-0 over Victoria Azarenka and 1-0 over Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Justine Henin, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Lucie Safarova).

Bianca Andreescu is just the third player in the Open Era to advance to the US Open final on her tournament debut, following Pam Shriver (runner-up to Chris Evert in 1978) and Venus Williams (runner-up to Martina Hingis in 1997). Only three players in the Open Era have lifted a major trophy on their first appearance in the tournament: Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Roland Garros 1971, Barbara Jordan at the 1976 Australian Open and Monica Seles at the 1991 Australian Open.

Bianca Andreescu is yet to lose to a Top 10 player, having started her career with a perfect 7-0 record against them. By comparison, in their first seven matches against Top 10 opposition, Serena Williams, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati all went 4-3; Kim Clijsters went 3-4; Stefanie Graf, Martina Hingis, Garbiñe Muguruza and Jelena Ostapenko all went 2-5; Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep all went 1-6; and Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber all went 0-7.

Bianca Andreescu is the first player born in the 2000s to reach a major final, and is bidding to become the fourth player born in 1996 or later to become a Grand Slam champion. Like the previous three - Jelena Ostapenko, Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty - Andreescu would be lifting a major trophy on her first appearance in the last four of a Slam. This phenomenon has happened three times in the past three years; in the prior 30 years, it only happened seven times (Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at Roland Garros 1989, Iva Majoli at Roland Garros 1997, Serena Williams at the US Open 1999, Anastasia Myskina at Roland Garros 2004, Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon 2004, Svetlana Kuznetsova at the US Open 2004 and Francesca Schiavone at Roland Garros 2010).

ORDER OF PLAY:

ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM

Play starts at noon

[1] H Chan (TPE) / M Venus (NZL) v B Mattek-Sands (USA) / J Murray (GBR)

4pm
[15] B. Andreescu (CAN) v S Williams (USA) [8]

WEATHER

Warm and sunny, with a maximum temperature of 75F/24C.

READING

Serena Williams's longevity means that the 23-time Grand Slam champion has beaten all comers over multiple generations, writes Tom Perrotta for FiveThirtyEight.

Venus and Serena Williams's impact extends even further beyond inspiring new generations of players - the legends of the game have also opened doors for Black coaches such as Jarmere Jenkins, Serena's hitting partner, and his brother Jermaine, Naomi Osaka's coach, writes Amy Lundy for The Undefeated.

The biggest stars of both WTA and ATP Tours are aging champions, and a question mark hangs over how the sport will deal with the retirement of legends such as Serena Williams and Roger Federer - but the rise of teenagers such as Amanda Anisimova, Bianca Andreescu and Coco Gauff is showing the value in leapfrogging the older generation, writes Tumaini Carayol for The Ringer.

WATCHING