RADUCANU STRIKES GOLD
BRITISH TEEN STUNS OLYMPIC CHAMPION TO REACH SEMI-FINAL
Since late August’s qualifying event the opposition has been getting tougher for emma Raducanu, but the harder they come the harder they fall.
Olympic champion and world no 11 Belinda Bencic last night became her latest victim on the concrete courts of Flushing Meadows.
She was the eighth player in a fortnight to get the straight-sets treatment from Raducanu. Two more going the same way and the extraordinary really will have happened.
Another astonishingly mature performance from the second teenager to make this year’s semi-finals saw Raducanu through 6-3, 6-4 in 82 minutes.
During a nervous first few games it looked like, as at Wimbledon, she had suddenly woken up deep into a Grand Slam event and realised where she was.
Then came what we might now call the Raducanu Roll — this time five consecutive games that turned the match on its head.
it left her awaiting the winner of this morning’s quarter-final between beaten Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova and the hard-scrapping Greek baseliner, Maria Sakkari.
Whoever she takes on will be up against a player racking up the firsts like a bumper year at Oxbridge. First ever qualifier of either sex to make the US Open semi-finals; first main draw debutante to do so since Venus Williams in 1997; first player to make the last eight while losing so few games since Serena.
Having entered Wimbledon — who were initially minded not to grant her a wildcard when ranked 338 — the 18-year-old is now on the cusp of the world’s top 50 and first on the GB ranking list.
This kind of surging achievement from one so young puts the fear of God into opponents, as even the well-travelled and highly experienced Bencic showed last night.
no opponent will relish facing someone who is playing with the utter conviction that comes with youth.
We have seen a similar phenomenon with the other teenager who has made it into the last four here, canada’s Leylah Fernandez. either side of celebrating her 19th birthday by handing out cupcakes in the locker room, she has taken down naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and fifth seed elina Svitolina.
That is a more illustrious list of victims than the Kent teenager can boast of, although she has faced not so much as a tiebreak along the way.
Raducanu is not dwelling on the comparison. She said: ‘i think to compare yourself and your results against anyone is probably the thief of happiness.’ The fact that she has won eight matches in the tournament going back two weeks — enough to win a main draw Grand Slam title with one to spare — will be another intimidation factor for her opponent. All for someone who is at the back end of the longest road trip of their life, having only swapped A-levels for the tour shortly before the grass-court season began in June. You could point to multiple examples of Raducanu’s remarkable composure last night, but perhaps the most telling were in her last two service games as the finish line came into view. She has had the odd wobble when trying to close matches out over the last fortnight and now a seasoned opponent was asking tough questions again. Serving at 4-3 in the second set, into the sun beating down on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Raducanu fell behind 0-30. The same thing happened again when she stepped up to serve for the match (this time in the shade), also losing the first two points.
Rather than panic she reeled off a succession of penetrating deliveries to deny Bencic, for whom it was the last chance to seize the moment. in some ways that was even more impressive than the startling revival that had occurred at the start of the match. The better the class of the opponent, the more consistently the ball comes back and Raducanu admitted it took a few games to get to the pace and weight of Bencic’s ball.
Once she did, the errors started drying up and she also managed to adjust her ball toss when serving into the glare.
A scoreline of 1-3 quickly became 6-3 and Bencic, who is of undulating temperament, was becoming exasperated. The Swiss player took a toilet break at the end of the set although, in fairness, it was not long enough to be one of the momentum-stoppers which caused such a stir in the first week.
Bencic had also come into the match having not lost a set, a run which included beating seventh seed iga Swiatek.
Her serve had only been broken three times in the tournament, but, by the time she trudged off court at the end, that tally had doubled.
Among her many attributes, Raducanu looks to have the speed of eye and reaction to become one of the best returners of serve in the game. in fact, she might not be far off that already.
A big return was not needed when, with Bencic increasingly feeling the pressure on serve, she double-faulted at 2-2 on break point to decisively hand over the lead. Soon she had won her 16th set without reply since her arrival.
Another four and, incredibly, she would be holding the trophy aloft on Saturday night.