EMMA RADUCANU sent shockwaves around the sporting world after making tennis history in a brilliant US Open women's singles final in New York.
The 18-year-old from Bromley in Kent beat fellow teenager, Canadian Leylah Fernandez, 6-4 6-3 to become the first ever qualifier to win a tennis major in the Open era.
Ranked 150 immediately prior to the event at Flushing Meadows in Queens, Raducanu came through three qualifying matches just to make it into the main draw.
Once there, she also beat Stefanie Voegele, Zhang Shuai, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Shelby Rogers, Belinda Bencic, and Maria Sakkari - and, amazingly, throughout the whole of her campaign including in the qualifiers, did not drop a single set.
For sure, this was easily the most remarkable British sports story of the year.
Unsurprisingly, in the first few games of the first set, there were nerves from both Grand Slam final debutants - and, after Raducanu held the opener, the two players traded breaks.
Raducanu nosed in front having gone 0-40 up - but eventually took the long way round to win the second game on the sixth break point after five deuces.
The advantage did not last for long - although game three was another topsy-turvy affair which went to three deuce points.
Fernandez took it on the fourth break point and then held serve for the first time to make it 2-2.
In the fifth game of the match, Raducanu looked in trouble again at 0-30 down but a forehand winner and three big serves dug her out of bother and seemed to settle her down.
By contrast, Fernandez was still struggling to get a first serve in and brought her double fault count up to four in the eighth game before finding a series of forehand winners to keep the match level at 4-4.
Ultimately, the difference came at the business end of the set. Raducanu held comfortably to-15 in the ninth game and then broke the Fernandez serve for a second time to win the set in the 10th.
At the start of the second set, Raducanu went for the kill, holding comfortably again before a series of unforced errors by Fernandez, including a fifth double fault, put her 0-40 down.
From there, though, the Canadian showed her quality to reel off five straight points to make it 1-1 - and, rather quickly, the momentum of the match had shifted again.
Suddenly, the North American crowd, already strongly backing Fernandez, found their voice in the stands which tower over Arthur Ashe Court.
Fernandez perhaps felt the shift and forced a break after a loose service game by Raducanu to lead 2-1.
However, the oldest saying in tennis is that a break is never truly sealed until it is subsequently held.
Instead, resilient Raducanu roared back straightaway with a pair of backhand winners to put the set back on serve at 2-2.
Then it got even better for the British player. Raducanu produced two service winners to move from 30-30 to a 3-2 lead - and then established a decisive lead with a second successive break in the sixth game.
By then, the brief surge by Fernandez had been completely suffocated by Raducanu - and three points in a row gave the qualifier a 15-40 lead and furnished her with another two break points.
Fernandez saved the first with a well-placed second serve but Raducanu converted the second chance with a wonderful forehand passing shot.
Glory was now within touching distance for Raducanu - and she soon made it 5-2 with a hold to-15 to transfer all the pressure back on Fernandez.
Serving to stay in match and tournament, Fernandez duly faced two match points - at 30-40 and during the course of another series of deuces.
The Canadian saved both of them and won the game with a brilliant forehand up the line - and then showed her tenacity by forcing a break point in the game in which Raducanu was serving for the title.
Worse still, the British player cut her leg sliding on the hard-court and a medical time-out was called for her to receive treatment.
Understandably, Fernandez was not too happy about it - but Raducanu was clearly bleeding from a cut just under her knee and needed to be patched up.
Thankfully, Raducanu was not seriously injured but this really was a battle to the finish.
After reaching deuce, Raducanu saved a break point then gained a third match point when Fernandez went long.
This time, on serve, Raducanu made no mistake, firing an ace wide of her Canadian opponent.
Raducanu had done it, becoming the first British female singles champion in a Grand Slam for 44 years since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in the Queen's Silver Jubilee year of 1977.
The Queen, coincidentally, had been watching and was among the first to congratulate Raducanu - but really this was prime-time Saturday night viewing for the population at large.
After all, there is, rather unmistakably, a certain girlish charm about Raducanu and her radiant smile would melt even the coldest of hearts.
When asked how she would celebrate her success, Raducanu smiled and replied: "Chocolate."
Then, there was also a particularly lovely moment on her sightseeing tour of New York when Raducanu spotted herself on a large electric billboard - not in a narcissistic way but somewhat still out of disbelief.
Perhaps one day soon, Raducanu will return from Cloud Nine - but, for now, she has more than earned a bit of time to enjoy the proceeds of all of her hard work.
Hard work which has come alongside the stresses faced by any teenager: on 4 January this year, Raducanu tweeted to wonder if her A-level exams would take place at all.
Now ranked at 23 in the tennis world, the Newstead Grammar School student needn't exactly have worried about her results.
For there can be no doubt that Raducanu passed this test with distinction.
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