“The Most Shocking Champions in US Open History!” — Emma Raducanu Leads a Stunning List of Unlikely Winners Who Defied the Odds and Left the Tennis World Speechless
A New York crowd loves an underdog. Maybe that explains the unprecedented run of unexpected women’s champions at the US Open over the last 20 years.
The list of recent US women’s champions includes the only qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam, the only player ever to win a major after getting into the event using a protected ranking, and the only female player to win a Slam as a wild card. The list also includes young surprises and under-the-radar veterans who rose for a last hurrah.
As the 2026 US Open gets underway, meet the five most unexpected champions in the event’s history.
Who were the most surprising US Open women’s champions?
5. Biana Andreescu (2019)
It might seem hard to believe now, but it wasn’t that surprising when Andreescu won the 2019 US Open as a No. 15 seed. Andreescu won the high-profile hard-court events at Indian Wells and Toronto earlier in 2019, so it made sense that she flourished on the hard courts in Flushing Meadows. She capped her title run with a convincing win against Serena Williams in the final.
At the time, it seemed the sky was the limit for Andreescu. She was just 19 at the time of her Grand Slam win. She became the first player born in the 2000s to win a major. She climbed to No. 4 in the world by October 2019.
Future tennis historians, however, will scratch their heads when they see Andreescu’s name on the US Open champions list. She hasn’t been past the fourth round of a major since. Injuries and the COVID pandemic combined to ruin Andreescu’s 2020 season. She has been hampered by injuries and inconsistency ever since.
4. Flavia Penetta (2015)
When you tell tennis aficionados that the 2015 US Open featured one of the biggest surprises in tennis history, they immediately think of Roberta Vinci’s semifinal win against Serena Williams that halted Williams’ bid for the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Pennetta then beat Vinci in the final to win the event as the No. 26 seed gave the tournament one of the most surprising winners in its history. Pennetta became the first woman to win her first major title after turning 30 years old.
She had competed in 48 previous majors without winning one – or, for that matter, reaching a final. She set a record by winning her first Grand Slam on her 49th – and last – try. Pennetta retired at the end of the 2015 season.
3. Kim Clijsters (2009)
It started as a sweet comeback story. It turned into a miraculous one.
Clijsters retired in 2007 and gave birth to a daughter in 2008. She announced plans to return to the tour in early 2009, but no one expected her to return to her pre-retirement level, which included the 2005 US Open title.
Clijsters’ comeback started a mere three weeks before the start of the final major of the year in 2009. She reached the quarterfinals in Cincinnati in her first tournament back. She won a pair of matches the following week in Toronto.
Then she went to the US Open and won the whole thing. She needed a wild card to get into the draw due to the lack of a world ranking from her retirement, but she ran through the field with relative ease. Her toughest match was in the fourth round against Venus Williams. The two players traded 6-0 sets, and then Clijsters prevailed 6-4 in the third.
Clijsters didn’t lose a set in her last three matches, including her infamous semifinal against Serena Williams (when Williams received a point penalty on match point) and the final against a young Caroline Wozniacki.
Pre-retirement Clijsters had needed 21 major appearances and four losses in finals before winning a Slam. Post-retirement, Clijsters won a US Open on her first try.
2. Sloane Stephens (2017)
Stephens hadn’t advanced past the fourth round at a major since 2013 and missed the second half of the 2016 season plus the first few months of 2017 due to a foot injury. She returned to the tour at Wimbledon and was back in the top 100 after summer semifinal appearances in Canada and Cincinnati but still needed a protected ranking for entry into the US Open.
Stephens opened up her own section of the draw with a three-set win against No. 11 seed Dominka Cibulkova in the second round. She thrashed future No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the third round. She pulled off back-to-back-to-back three-set wins against seeded players, the latter against Venus Williams in the semifinals, to reach her first major final.
There, she bested a nervous Madison Keys by a one-sided score of 6-3, 6-0 to become the first player to win a major after using a protected ranking to get into the field.
1. Emma Raducanu (2021)
Raducanu, who was ranked No. 150 when the 2021 US Open began, is still the only qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam title. She combined the most unexpected major title run of all time with one of the most dominant championship runs ever seen in New York. She won all 10 of her matches – including her three qualifying matches – without dropping a set.
There were few signs in the first week that the 2021 US Open was destined to produce a shock winner. All of the top 20 seeds reached the third round – a first in Grand Slam history. Upsets were the norm the rest of the way. Leylah Fernandez single-handedly took out three of the top five seeds herself before falling to Raducanu in the first major final in the Open era between unseeded players.
Raducanu is just 16-14 at majors and hasn’t been past the fourth round at a Slam since her miracle run in New York.
