NEW YORK GIANT
The Raducanu bandwagon rolls on after she thumps Rogers
The Emma Raducanu bandwagon rolled right into the quarter-finals of the US Open with yet another sensational show on the world’s biggest stage.
Britain’s new teen tennis sensation took 10 minutes to get her bearings on the massive Arthur Ashe Stadium court and, after losing the first two games, went on the rampage to grind Shelby Rogers’ dreams to dust.
Raducanu went on to win the next 11 en route to a 6-2, 6-1 victory that reduced Rogers to rubble.
Now she’ll face Switzerland’s Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic, the No.11 seed, tomorrow – and she’ll certainly fancy her chances.
She said: “I feel absolutely amazing. Shelby was an amazing opponent who has done so well in the US Open, so I knew it was going to be a tough match but I’m so happy that I’ve managed to come through and overcome some of the nerves at the beginning.
“I’m just so happy to have been able to focus on my game and get into the quarter-finals.
“I’m going to try my best in each round and see how far it goes.
“Now it’s Belinda, who is a great player in great form. I’m going to have to bring it on Wednesday.”
Raducanu’s journey to the fourth round had been extraordinary, not dropping a set on her way to this crack at a place in the last eight.
And her display in the third round, beating Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0, 6-1, was as good as anything produced by anyone so far in the tournament.
But her opponent was no mug either. Rogers took out the No.1 seed Ash Barty and, at 43 in the world, the American was not only 107 places above Raducanu but, at 28, was eight years more experienced.
Right from the off, it looked like being the biggest examination of Raducanu’s credentials but she passed it with flying colours.
The Brit staved off four break points in the opening game before cracking to fall behind. There was certainly a nervousness about her in the early stages but she got on the board at 1-2, having survived another three break points at 0-40 and that sparked the teenager into life, retrieving the early break in the next game.
Having got up and running, there was just no stopping the Bromley girl.
She reeled off six games on the spin to take the opener in just 37 minutes. She made it seven in a row with the first game of the second set and Rogers didn’t look like she knew where her next game was coming from.
The crowd tried to back their girl but there was no shortage of support for Raducanu, whose balance of power and precision was just on a different level from her opponent.
And when she secured a break to take her eighth game in a row, there were echoes of that third-round demolition and there was no letting up.
In a blink of an eye she was 5-0 up and Rogers was just looking to get out of there. She did get a game on the board, finally, to halt the 11-game run, but it just delayed the inevitable.
Raducanu showed her the door in the following game to continue her fairytale run at Flushing Meadows.