New York: British teenager Emma Raducanu continued her sensational run as she became the first qualifier to make the semi-finals at the US Open, stunning Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in straight sets.
Emma, 18, defeated No. 11 seed Blenda 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Just two months after her breakthrough run to the round of 16 in her Grand Slam main-draw debut at Wimbledon, the World No.150 Emma is now into the final four of a major in just her second appearance.
Teenagers will now feature in both of Th’rsday’s semifinals: Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who turned 19 on Monday, also won her quarterfinal and will face No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the bottom half of the draw.
Emma Raducanu is the fourth women’s qualifier to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era (since 1968). She joined Christine Dorey (1978 Australian Open), Alexandra Stevenson (1999 Wimbledon), and Nadia Podoroska (2020 Roland Garros) to achieve this feat.
She is also just the third woman ranked outside the Top 100 to make it into the US Open semi-finals, joining WTA Legends Billie Jean King in 1979 and Kim Clijsters in 2009. Both King and Clijsters were unranked in those instances; Clijsters went on to win the title, according to information available on the WTA Tour website.
