Why Emma Raducanu is proving to be the real Cinderella story

Maybe the movie bosses could have saved the multi-million budget and instead turned their cameras on British teenager Emma Raducanu.

For while Camila Cabello may have the fairy godmother and a couple of ugly sisters, there seems little chance of Raducanu’s career turning into a pumpkin come midnight tonight.

Nobody outside of the tennis fraternity had heard of the 18-year-old, until the Kent sixth-former burst into the national domain after reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon this summer.

Raducanu arrived in New York for the US Open qualifiers three weeks ago, with little expected of the 18-year-old.

Nine wins later, remarkably without dropping a set, she has created history by becoming the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final. Not bad for a teenager who only passed her A-Levels a few weeks ago.

I would imagine UK subscriptions for Amazon Prime – who have been screening the US Open – will have gone through the roof, with Raducanu due to face another teenager Leylah Fernandez at 9pm this evening.

Now it’s hard to keep your feet grounded when it comes to Raducanu. I remember travelling to Flushing Meadows to report on a young Andy Murray at the US Open.

But there is something about Raducanu – who will become the British No 1 on Monday – which cannot be ignored. Murray’s career would be a roller-coaster of a blockbuster movie, his matches rarely straight-forward. How many times were we ‘treated’ to a fifth-set decider?

But Raducanu’s time at the US Open would be a New York rom-com. Even when she started off slowly against Shelby Rodgers and Belinda Bencic, the smile was never far from her face, maybe the ignorance of youth? A love story, hopefully without a twist this evening.

She has a stunning combination of power, poise and skill, and is yet to be truly tested in the Big Apple. Off the court she has engaged with the American crowds – even without the absence of a travelling English support – posing for selfies with fans, and handing out tennis equipment.

Against French Open semi-finalist Maria Sakkari, Raducanu swept aside the 17th seed, winning the first five games before her Greek opponent could even trouble the scorer.

Tonight, headline writers will have ‘Queen of Queens’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’ poised. Now that would be a true Cinderella story.