Emma Raducanu fell asleep as a little girl to visions of running through the stands to celebrate a Grand Slam title and lived the moment yesterday morning (Singapore time) after capturing the US Open title.

The Briton, 18, beat 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 to become the first qualifier to win a Slam title, rolling through 20 sets without loss to hoist the trophy.

"It's an absolute dream. You just have visions of yourself going up to the box, hugging everyone, celebrating," said Raducanu, who was born in Canada to a Romanian father and Chinese mother before moving to London aged two.

"For that moment to actually happen, I'm just so grateful."

Her childhood visions returned as her epic run pushed her to becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion in 17 years and the youngest US Open winner since 17-year-old Serena Williams in 1999.

She also became Britain's first women's Grand Slam singles champion since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977, with Queen Elizabeth leading the tributes.

"I send my congratulations to you on your success," the Queen said. "It is a remarkable achievement at such a young age, and is testament to your hard work and dedication."

After an early exchange of hard-fought breaks, Raducanu broke in the 10th game to take the first set, blasting a forehand winner after 58 minutes.

In the second set, Fernandez broke to 2-1 but Raducanu blasted a backhand cross-court service return winner to equalise and later whipped a forehand passing winner by the Canadian to break for 4-2.

Fernandez saved two match-points in the eighth game and held to 5-3, then earned a break chance at 30-40 in the ninth.

But on the point, Raducanu skidded on her left knee and opened a bleeding cut. The match was halted while a trainer bandaged the wound as Fernandez spoke with the referee.

When play resumed, Fernandez sent a forehand long to squander the break chance and Raducanu won after an hour and 51 minutes on her third ace, leaving Fernandez in tears.

Throughout the tournament, Raducanu never dropped more than five games in any set and that happened only once, in qualifying, although she insisted every win had its challenges.

"I faced a lot of adversity in every single one of my matches," she said. "What I did very well this tournament was press in the moments that I really needed to."

Her strength of character has shone through during the tournament, and she credits her parents for the trait.

DISCIPLINE AND RESPECT

"For me, having a Chinese mum, she definitely instilled in me from a young age a lot of discipline and respect for other people," she said.

"I think having parents like I do, they always push me.

"They have high expectations. I've always tried to live up to that."

Fulfilling those high expectations will bring with it vast riches. The £181,000 (S$335,800) she earned at Wimbledon for reaching the last 16 - her previous richest payday - is loose change compared to the US$2.5 million (S$3.4m) she earned for being crowned US Open champion and the endorsements that come with it.

She already knows what she will be buying first - a pair of AirPods to replace the ones she lost.

"There's a running joke in my team because before my first-round qualifying match, I lost my AirPods and I was basically running around the changing room like three minutes before my call to go on trying to find it but I lost it," she told ESPN.

"I was thinking to myself, 'You know what, if you win this match you can buy yourself a pair of AirPods' and that's become the running joke."

- AFP, REUTERS