Emma Raducanu became the second teenager to reach the U.S. Open semifinals in two days, upsetting Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4.
The 18-year-old qualifier from Britain joined Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who earned her semifinal spot Tuesday, a day after her 19th birthday.
Raducanu fell behind early 3-1 but the quarterfinal match turned when she broke the 11th-seeded Bencic — who had lost serve only three times in four rounds — to even it at 3 during her run of five straight games.
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The 150th-ranked Raducanu followed Billie Jean King in 1979 and 2009 champion Kim Clijsters as the only women outside the top 100 of the rankings to reach the U.S. Open semifinals.
Her record against opponents ranked in the top 50 is now 6-0, though of those opponents, only Bencic was in the top 40.
She wasn’t even ranked inside the top 350 just three months ago before a run to the fourth round of Wimbledon. Raducanu will play No. 4 Karolina Pliskova or 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari in the semifinals.
“Playing Belinda, she is such a great opponent,” Raducanu said after the match.
“Her ball speed definitely caught me off guard. She hits the ball so hard, and I had to adjust and adapt. I’m just so happy to come through.”
The teenager thanked her “absolutely amazing team”, pointing to her coaching staff in New York and her family back in the United Kingdom.
“I’m sure they were watching. I hope they were,” she added.
“I wish you could be here with me. But honestly, everything we’ve been working for, it showed here. So thank you so much.”
During her on court interview, Raducanu was asked whether Fernandez’s huge run at Flushing Meadows made her believe in herself even more.
“Yeah. To have so many young players here, doing so well, it just shows how strong the next generation is,” she replied.
“Leylah is doing incredibly well. She’s really nice, she was handing out cupcakes for her 19th birthday.
“Everyone’s on their trajectory. I’m just here, taking care of what I can control, and it’s my journey at the end of the day.”
Raducanu will face the winner of today’s later quarterfinal between fourth seed Karolina Pliskova and 17th seed Maria Sakkari.
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