Emma Raducanu is the 2021 US Open champion.

In a historic final at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, Raducanu became the first qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam, defeating Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3.

Raducanu is the youngest woman to win a major since Maria Sharpova’s Wimbledon win in 2004. This year’s final also marks the first between two teenagers since the 1999 US Open, when then-17-year-old Serena Williams beat out eighteen-year-old Martina Hingis.

The Englishwoman’s win is a victory of firsts, notably making Raducanu the first to win the US Open without losing a set since 2014, and the first time a British woman has won a Grand Slam in 44 years.

Raducanu, who never dropped a set in ten matches throughout the tournament, continued her flawless play Saturday, opening up against Fernandez with a first set win.

In the second set, Fernandez was able to save two championship points as she served at 2-5 to keep the match going.

In the next game, Raducanu chased one of Fernandez’s shots into the corner, skinning her knee in the process. The play appeared to give Fernandez a chance to get the match back on serve, but a medical timeout for Raducanu put a quick stop to the Canadian’s momentum.

Five points later, Raducanu stepped up and closed out the final with an ace — sealing a clean 6-4, 6-3 win.

After 1 hour and 53 minutes, the Brit fell to her knees as the both the latest US Open champ and tennis’ next star.

The National Women’s Soccer League has canceled the Washington Spirit match against OL Reign — originally scheduled to be played September 12, 2021, at 5 p.m. — declaring that the Spirit must forfeit the match due to breaches of the league’s medical protocols.

The Saturday announcement states that the “OL Reign will receive three points in the league table and per FIFA guidelines the game will be recorded as 3-0 in favor” of the team.

Last week, the Spirit’s game against the Portland Thorns was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak of cases among the Spirit. Details regarding the rescheduling of the game have yet to be announced.

It is still unclear at this point what specific violations of league protocols occurred. According to Meg Linehan, the club had “multiple” protocol breaches.

The Spirit’s new club president Ben Olsen released a statement following the NWSL’s announcement:

“Although we are disappointed in the NWSL’s decision to issue the Spirit a forfeit, we accept their decision,” Olsen wrote. “We apologize to our fans who we know are disappointed in us. Making this situation right and preparing for our remaining matches are the club’s highest priorities.”

On Thursday, the University of South Carolina Athletics announced the recipients of 19 endowed scholarships, including junior forward Aliyah Boston, who was awarded the 2021-22 A’ja Wilson Endowed Scholarship.

Boston, originally from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, has led South Carolina to two SEC tournament championships and one SEC regular-season title. Last year, Boston picked up National Player of the Year honors from The Athletic and was a unanimous First-Team All-American.

She also collected her second Lisa Leslie Award as the best center in the country and repeated as SEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-SEC First Team. She was the only player in the country to be named a finalist for both the Naismith Trophy and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

Boston led the way for Division I women’s basketball with 357 total rebounds while ranking fifth with 17 double-doubles. She was one of 13 players to record a triple-double during the 2020-21 season.

The Premier Hockey Federation announced its COVID-19 Health & Safety Protocols on Friday for the 2021-22 season, which includes the adoption of a full vaccination policy for all member participation.

The full vaccination requirement applies to players, coaches, officials, staff in both full-time and part-time capacities, as well as volunteers and rink partners who may come into contact with each other on a daily or weekly basis.

The PHF considers individuals to be fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the final dose of any COVID-19 vaccine either fully approved or approved for emergency use authorization by the United States FDA or any COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada.

Signed athletes were notified about the new policy in early September and had until Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, to opt-in or opt-out of their Season 7 contracts.

According to the announcement, the league will not pay the contract of any player who chooses to opt-out of the vaccine policy.

The Washington Mystics defeated the Atlanta Dream 82-74 to keep their playoff hopes alive on Friday night. The Mystics are now tied with the New York Liberty for the WNBA’s eighth and final playoff spot with three games remaining.

After a four-game absence due to a hip injury, Tina Charles returned to the lineup and reminded everyone why she’s a leading candidate for the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player award.

Charles scored a game-high 26 points, marking her league-leading 18th 20-point game of the season.

The Mystics star also had 16 rebounds, which surpassed Rebekkah Brunson for second on the all-time rebound list, trailing only Sylvia Fowles.

After the Friday victory, Charles now has 11 career games with at least 25 points and 15 rebounds combined, tying Lisa Leslie for the most in WNBA history. Just this year, Charles has 5 such games, the most in a season in WNBA history.

Theresa Plaisance also put up 14 points for the Mystics, and Natasha Cloud added 13 points, six assists, and four steals.

After the game, Charles was interviewed about becoming second all-time in rebounding.

“That just goes out to Coach Auriemma, who always told me I was the worst rebounder,” said Charles.

The Chicago Red Stars emerged on Friday night with a point following a 1-1 draw against the Houston Dash.

Houston opened the scoring in the first half when Kristie Mewis sent a long ball in for Rachel Daly to chase down in the 22nd minute. After fighting off Tierna Davidson, Daly got a blistering shot off to secure her fifth goal of the season.

Play remained even between the two teams until Mallory Pugh drew a free kick just outside the box.

Danielle Colaprico took the kick, and goalkeeper Jane Campbell made a big save, but Casey Krueger was there to force the equalizer.

The Dash came close to a game-winner in stoppage time when Daly found space at the top of the box to get a big shot off but missed the target.

Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart will not take the court for the remainder of the WNBA regular season due to an injury to her left foot.

In the defending champion Storm’s Tuesday night 105-71 win against the Washington Mystics, Stewart collided with Mystics forward Erica McCall in the third quarter and did not return to the floor.

After being evaluated by the Storm medical staff, the team announced that Stewart would miss Seattle’s final two regular-season games.

Stewart was not ruled out for the playoffs — which begin on Sept. 23 — but she will be re-evaluated next week to better determine her postseason status.

Stewart finishes her regular season play averaging 20.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.8 blocks in 28 games.

The star’s recent injury also sparked some déjà vu. In 2020, Stewart’s regular season ended due to a foot injury before leading the Storm to a 2020 WNBA title and winning the Finals MVP.

When Chris Evert was 16 years old, she took center court at the 1971 US Open.

An amateur at the time, Evert was the youngest player to ever reach the semifinals of the US Open. She upset three seeded players to set up a meeting with Billie Jean King, already a five-time Grand Slam winner and the eventual US Open champion that year.

“That was like my coming out story,” Evert told Just Women’s Sports of her first Grand Slam appearance. “I lost in the semifinals to Billie Jean King, but it was a fairytale tournament for me.”

Evert became an instant American icon and embarked on one of the most storied careers in sports. Later dubbed “The Ice Maiden” for her stoic and powerful drive, Evert was a symbol of the 1970s tennis boom that showed young women they could achieve their dreams of playing and succeeding in professional sports.

By the end of 1974, Evert was the best women’s tennis player in the world — a title she would hold six more times. She became the first player, male or female, to win 1,000 singles matches and she compiled the second-most career match wins, behind only Martina Navratilova. When she was finally ready to step away from the court in 1989, Evert had won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, tied for the fifth-most in women’s history.

Exactly half a century since Evert’s Cinderella debut, the 2021 US Open begins Monday in New York. The women’s draw features some of the fiercest young talent and current legends of the game.

“The US Open is an innovator,” Evert said. “I think they’re the leader of all the Grand Slams.”

New this year at the tournament is technology from IBM, the digital partner of the USTA, that will keep fans informed about the players and matches with real-time player rankings and insights.

“It’s trying to bring the audience and fans interest in a little bit more,” Evert said of the AI-powered innovations that will be featured on the US Open app, USOpen.org and the ESPN broadcast.

The women’s singles draw opens with several intriguing first-round matchups. World No. 1 Ash Barty will square off against former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, defending champion Naomi Osaka will face Marie Bouzkova and two-seed Arya Sabalenka will meet Nina Stojanović. The first round also features Sloane Stephens versus fellow American Madison Keys in what will be a rematch of the 2017 US Open final.

The US Open will be Osaka’s first Grand Slam since she withdrew from the last two major tournaments for mental health reasons.

Like Evert, Osaka made her Grand Slam debut at the US Open, winning the 2018 tournament in an epic showdown with Serena Williams. When Osaka spoke up about the consequences of media scrutiny on players’ mental health earlier this year, Evert reflected on her own experiences of dealing with stardom at a young age.

“When this mental health situation came up with Naomi, it brought me back to analyze how I felt at that point,” Evert said.

“Sometimes, I didn’t come out of my hotel room for two days. There was depression, but it wasn’t labeled back then. We didn’t know what it was. It was ‘Oh, Chrissie’s taking her losses hard.’”

Evert empathizes with Osaka but acknowledges that the attention she received was likely not as extreme.

“In my day and age, they weren’t camping out on your lawn,” she said. “If you went to a restaurant, you’d get your picture taken, but it wasn’t as intrusive.”

America’s major was without fans in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the tournament’s two-week run this year, spectators will take their seats, but they will be without several familiar stars.

Last week, Venus and Serena Williams withdrew due to injuries, making it the first time since 2003 that both sisters will miss the US Open. Serena, who has been on a four-year chase for a 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would tie her with Margaret Court for the most ever, hasn’t played since retiring from her first-round match at Wimbledon in June.

“It’s unfortunate because she loves playing in New York,” Evert said of Serena’s withdrawal. “When you do get older, the body doesn’t respond as quickly to injuries as it once did. But one thing’s for sure — she has a lot to go on to after tennis.”

Off the court, Williams and Osaka have led the way as the highest earners in all of women’s sports this year.

Evert credits the collaboration between the Women’s Tennis Association and other top athletic organizations as more women in sports — beyond professional tennis players — pursue higher compensation.

Evert also mentioned her longtime competitor and friend, tennis great Billie Jean King, as a brazen force behind the monetary success of professional women’s tennis.

“I don’t think other sports had a Billie Jean King. I feel very lucky that she was in tennis,” Evert said. “We could not have made the advances and the progress as quickly as we did if we didn’t have Billie Jean to be our spokesperson.”

As the Tokyo Games come to a close, one thing is for certain — and should come as no surprise: American women have risen to the top of the international athletic stage.

For the third consecutive Olympic Summer Games, women made up the majority of the 621-person United States team in Tokyo.

After winning the U.S. medal count in both London in 2012 and Rio in 2016, female athletes dominated once again in Japan. Out of the 113 total American medals, women won 66 to top their previous high and beat out every country’s total except for those of China and the Russian Olympic Committee.

Delivering some of the most memorable and iconic moments of the Olympics, American women earned 23 of Team USA’s 39 total gold medals. They added 22 silver medals out of Team USA’s 41 total and 21 bronze out of 33.

American soccer legend and two-time Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach congratulated Christine Sinclair and the Canadian national team on their gold-medal win on Saturday.

In a video Wambach’s wife, author Glennon Doyle, posted to Twitter, the two-time Olympic gold medalist delivered a heartfelt message to the Canadian captain.

“Sincy, nobody deserves it more than you, sister,” Wambach said.

“Congratulations to all of Canada, all of the players, also all the players who built the program,” she continued. “The Charmaine Hoopers, the Tancredis, the Sophie Schmidts. You guys are all part of this win.”

Wambach also wrote a congratulatory message to Team Canada on Twitter.

Sinclair, 38, said after the game Friday that she hasn’t thought about her playing future with the Canadian national team beyond the victory tour.

“I haven’t thought about it. I’m not gonna make a decision out of joy or pain, depending on how this tournament ended,” she said. “I never do that.”