After making a name for herself at Wimbledon, teenager Emma Raducanu is making history at the U.S. Open.
The first qualifier to ever reach the final four in Flushing Meadows, Raducanu still hasn’t even dropped a single set, much less a match.
And Wednesday she turned Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic into little more than a speedbump en route to the semifinals, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 18-year-old Brit was just a couple months removed from taking her A Levels — the United Kingdom’s version of high school final exams — and ranked 338th in the WTA rankings when she burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in June.
It’s been a stratospheric rise since.
Raducanu’s draw at the US Open opened as beautifully as one of her sliced serves. She didn’t face a single Top 40 foe until Wednesday, when No. 11 Bencic was expected to provide a stiff test.
Apparently no more test than those A levels she aced.
Raducanu was brilliant against a foe who’d won 13 of her last 14 matches — and also had not dropped a set at the US Open.
She broke Bencic once in the first set and twice more in the second, hitting 23 winners with just a dozen unforced errors.
“Of course, I mean playing Belinda, she’s such a great opponent…her ball speed definitely caught me off guard, she hits the ball so hard,” Raducanu said in an out-court post-match TV interview. “I had to adjust and adapt. I’m just so happy to come through.”
Raducanu got broken on her first serve, and fell behind 3-1. But after making seven unforced errors in the first six games, she settled down and had none the rest of the first set.
“I was 0-30 in my last couple of service games, so to hold was pretty big. It was literally one point at a time, trying to focus on what I can control, my serve, landing first serve,” said Raducanu. “Belinda’s an incredibly tough opponent, but I’m just really pleased to come through that.”
Raducanu doubled faulted to go down 0-30 in the final game. But Bencic hit long to hand her a point, and Raducanu’s winner evened it at 30-all. Brimming with confidence, she hit a stellar serve out wide for match point, and closed it out.
The teen dropped her racket, put her hands on her yellow Nike visor in disbelief and waved to the adoring crowd that she had long since won over. And with her charisma and attractive all-around game, Raducanu is poised to become one of the game’s next huge stars.
At 18, she joined the recently-turned 19 Leylah Fernandez in the semis.
“Yeah to have so many young players here, doing so well, it just shows how strong the next generation is,” said Raducanu, who’ll play No. Karolina Pliskova or No. 17 Maria Sakkari.
