Emma Raducanu continued to turn Flushing Meadows into her playground as the 18-year-old British star reached her maiden Grand Slam semifinal on Wednesday with an impressive straight-set win over reigning Olympic champion Belinda Bencic at the 2021 US Open.
Raducanu showed poise beyond her years in her quarterfinal clash against Bencic, needing just one hour and 21 minutes to record a 6-3, 6-4 win in front of a packed crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. With the victory, Raducanu became the first qualifier in the professional era to reach the semifinal stage of the US Open.
It has been an incredible run by Raducanu, who has steamrolled past her rivals over the previous 1 ½ weeks. Raducanu has played in eight US Open matches thus far, three in the qualifying rounds and five in the main draw, and she has not dropped a set in any of those.
That run seemed in danger in the early going against Bencic as the Swiss star stormed to a quick 3-1 lead in the first set. Raducanu fought back, winning five consecutive games to hand Bencic her first dropped set of the tournament.
Raducanu continued her fine play in the second set as she managed to hold her composure down the stretch, winning each of her last two service games despite falling behind love-30 to grab the shock win over Bencic. She became only the third woman ranked outside the top 100 to advance to the semis of the US Open.
Raducanu is the second teenager to reach the final four of this year’s US Open, joining Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, who barged into the semis the day before. Fernandez defeated Elina Svitolina to become the youngest semifinalist at the US Open since Maria Sharapova in 2005. Both teenagers are now just one win away from forging a dream final here in New York.
