Sloane Stephens completed an incredible summer comeback when she overwhelmed Madison Keys to take the US Open title.
The 24 year-old American, who only started playing again at Wimbledon after missing the season with a stress fracture in her foot, took only 61 minutes to hammer her good friend 6-3 6-0.
Ranked 83 in the world coming into the fortnight – although she has previously been as high as 12 – she became the lowest listed player to win a Major since the unranked Kim Clijsters returned from having a baby in 2009.
World number 83 Sloane Stephens wins the 2017 US Open title after a dominant straight sets victory at Flushing Meadows
Stephens kissed her trophy after dominating the final where she did not give her opponent Madison Keys any chance
Stephens became the lowest ranked player to ever win a title at the US Open after returning from a long injury set-back
The two young Americans, good friends off the court, shared a prolonged embrace following the conclusion of the match
Stephens played a wonderfully composed match and made only six unforced errors compared to the 30 from her much-touted opponent, who at times struggled to keep the ball in the court.
The unlikely victor won £2.84 million for her efforts, and afterwards went and sat down to Keys to console her.
Keys had come in the favourite, based on everything from her higher ranking to her more potent ball-striking against an opponent whose method is more that of the counter puncher.
Stephens dominated the final which she won 6-3, 6-1 against good friend and fellow American Madison Keys
Stephens broke Madison Keys early in the second set to put herself within touching distance of the US Open title
Young Stephens had a period away from tennis after suffering with injury and falling out of love with the game
Madison Keys looked to struggle physically throughout the match and failed to win a single game in the second set
Keys played inconsistently after reaching the final following a surprising and an impressive US Open campaign
But Stephens, daughter of late American footballer John Stephens, had the first set carefully planned and was by far the more composed of the two.
She did not give Keys much pace to work with, and sucked seventeen unforced errors out of her in the course of the opener, which saw her break in the fifth and ninth games.
‘Sloane is one of my favourite people, I didn’t play my best tennis and if there’s someone I have to lose to today I’m glad it’s her,’ said Keys, struggling to contain her emotions.
US Open champion Stephens made her way into the crowd to embrace her mother who was watching from court-side
Stephens was in unsurprisingly goods spirits as she received her £2.84 million check prize for winning the US Open
Keys was struggling to contain her emotions after picking up her runners-up award following the 2017 final
Keys, pictured with her thigh strapped, struggled to influence the match and cope with Stephens’ accurate serving
Stephens, who was ranked 934 five weeks ago, responded: ‘It’s incredible, I had surgery on January 23 and if someone told me then I’d win the US Open I’d say it was impossible.
‘Maddie is one of my best friends on tour, for us to be here is a special moment, I told her I wish it could have been a draw.
‘I’m going to support her, no matter what. I should just retire now, I’m never going to be able to top this. I worked super hard to get back.’
Stephens settled well into the match, while her opponent made costly errors, and broke early to take the opening set 6-3
Both players were pictured alongside Billie Jean King following the coin toss before their US Open match-up
Both Keys and Stephens are good friends off the court and were in good spirits before they started the match
Stephens herself, such an excellent mover who covers the court with great ease, only contributed two winners and two unforced errors, as Keys struggled to give herself enough margin to clear the net.
Two rare, blazing passing shots then helped her go 2-0 up in the second with panic starting to set in with Keys, for so long reckoned to be the next American Grand Slam winner after the Williams sisters but possibly hampered by an upper right thigh that had some strapping on.
Stephens raced to 4-0 when Keys double faulted, but then needed to save three break points, which she did with astonishing sangfroid.
Keys managed to stretch it to just over an hour in the end with some resistance in the final game, but this was a blowout from which she may take some time to recover.
Flushing Meadows was feeling very patriotic ahead of the women’s final due to it being an all-American affair
The Arthur Ashe Stadium was packed ahead of the US Open Women’s final 2017 between Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys
Sloane Stephens started the opening set the best and broke her opponent’s serve first to take control of the early stages
15th seed Madison Keys wore heavy strapping to her thigh but the treatment was only thought to be precautionary