Melbourne: Sofia Kenin was elated and emotional after fulfilling a childhood dream by winning the Australian Open in her grand slam final debut on Saturday.
Kenin became the youngest American major champion since Serena Williams at the 2002 US Open after rallying past former world number one Garbine Muguruza 4-6 6-2 6-2 in Melbourne on Saturday.
Sofia Kenin with her maiden Grand Slam trophy. The 21-year-old, the youngest Australian Open finalist since Maria Sharapova in 2008, lost a tense opening set, lasting 52 minutes, but lit up Rod Laver Arena with her tenacious approach to blitz Muguruza.
Fronting the crowd during the trophy ceremony, 14th seed Kenin - who upstaged world number one Ash Barty in the semi-final - said: "I'd like to congratulate Garbine on a great match and a great tournament. I'm sure we are going to have many more finals to come in the future.
Know new Australian Open women's singles champion Sofia Kenin. "I just want to say that my dream has officially come true. I cannot even describe this feeling, it's so emotional and I worked so hard. I'm just so grateful to be standing here – dreams come true. If you have a dream, go for it and it's going to come true.
"I love this tournament. It's such an honour and a privilege to be here and thank you so much – I'm looking forward to coming back here next year. I would like to thank the crowd – this past two weeks has been the best two weeks of my life.
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin "Last but not least, I'd like to thank my team, my dad, everyone that is there [in the stadium]. Thank you for making this possible, thank you for putting up with me. I can't believe we are here today, we worked so hard, all of us, so I'm grateful from the bottom of my heart.
"I'd also like to thank my mum, who is back home probably watching this speech. I love you mum! Everyone back home, thank you so much for your support. We worked so hard for this," she signed off.
