Sofia Kenin has been crowned the Australian Open champion after beating Garbine Muguruza in the final this morning. Not many outside of the WTA circles would have been aware of the 21-year-old ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season but she has now announced herself to the world.
No 14 seed Kenin had never before been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam but her inexperience was hidden throughout this campaign.
The American crept under the radar in Melbourne as the spotlight was on her fellow countrywomen Serena Williams and Coco Gauff.
But she was thrust into the limelight when she took on world No 1 and home favourite Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals.
Her bravery shone through on that blistering hot day when the Heat Stress Scale was only 0.1 away from having the roof shut on Rod Laver Arena.
It was completely contrasting conditions for the final as torrential rain meant the tie had to be played indoors.
Kenin had huge success with her dropshot over the past fortnight and she used the clever move in two of the opening four points to hold her service game.
Murguruza was also able to hold comfortably as both players settled into the tie quickly.
However, world No 32 Muguruza then did what Barty was not able to on Thursday by breaking Kenin’s serve after the youngster fired a forehand wide.
Kenin was handed a way back into the first set when her opponent delivered back-to-back double faults to bring the scores level at 4-4.
Arguably the moment which set Kenin on her path to glory came in the fifth game of the third set.
The youngster was on serve but trailing love-40 when she rallied back to hold serve.
And she then broke in the following game thanks to another two consecutive double faults from Muguruza.
The same errors were made two games later as Muguruza gifted Kenin the title with more serving mistakes.
After lifting the trophy, Kenin said: “This is my first speech but I am going to try my best
“First off I want to congratulate Garbine on a great match and a great finals. I am sure we are going to have many more finals to come. Congratulations.
“My dream has officially come true. I cannot even describe this feeling. I am so emotional and can’t believe it.
“Dreams do come true so if you have a dream go for it and it will come true.”