Emma Raducanu named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year after US Open triumph

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Raducanu's victory marked a massive moment for British women's tennis

US Open champion Emma Raducanu has continued a memorable 2021 by being voted Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.

The teenager, who turned 19 earlier this month, ended Britain's 44-year wait for a women's Grand Slam singles winner with victory in New York.

She had entered the tournament as a qualifier and the world number 150.

Raducanu follows last year's winner, jockey Hollie Doyle and sprinter Dina Asher-Smith who won in 2019 and 2018.

Raducanu's win at Flushing Meadows in September came after she reached the last 16 at Wimbledon two months earlier as a wildcard.

There she beat two top-50 players but had to retire from her fourth-round match against Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic with breathing difficulties and dizziness.

But Raducanu was brilliant in New York, beating fellow teenager, Leylah Fernandez of Canada, in the final to become the first qualifier and youngest British player to win a Grand Slam title at the tournament.

Elsewhere, Olympic gold medal-winning BMX rider Bethany Shriever, 21, took the Young Sportswoman honour while the Disability Sportswoman award went to 29-year-old wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft, who won two Paralympic golds in Tokyo.

Other award winners included cyclists Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (Team of the Year) while jockey Rachael Blackmore, 32, was given a special Editor's Choice award after she created history in April by becoming the first female jockey to win the Grand National on Minella Times.