Raducanu showed a mixture of intelligence and consistency to dismantle the last standing American in the competition 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes at the Arthur Ashe stadium.
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British teenager Emma Raducanu put in another impressive performance to beat American Shelby Rogers and reach the US Open quarter-finals. On Monday, the 18-year-old showed a mixture of intelligence and consistency to dismantle the last standing American in the competition 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes at the Arthur Ashe stadium. With her victory, Raducanu became just the third qualifier in the Open era to reach the US Open quarter-finals. She will next face Olympics champion Belinda Bencic for a place in the semifinals.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Raducanu said in her on-court interview. “Shelby is a great opponent. She’s done so well in the US Open and had a great week. I knew it was going to be a tough match. But, I’m so happy to have come through and have managed to overcome some of the nerves at the beginning.”
Virginia Wade, who was watching courtside, was the last British player to win the US Open. Raducanu said, “Thank you so much for watching my match. I really appreciate it. You’re an absolute legend. So I’m really honoured to have had you here. I’m just going to try to do my best each round and let’s see how far it goes.”
Raducanu arrived in the fourth round having lost fewer games than any other player. She has shown no sign of stopping. Just like her dominating 6-0, 6-1 third-round win against Sara Sorribes Tormo, she was ruthless Rogers had achieved a career-high ranking of 40 this summer. The American had dismantled World No.1, Ashleigh Barty, in the previous round.
In the early stages, Raducanu looked unsettled and a series of unforced errors led her to a 0-2, 15-40 deficit. She was in danger of going 3-0 down before digging deep to hold in her second service game, where she saved two service points.
That hold seemed to have settled her nerves. She quickly began to take control of the match as she stormed through the next 11 games to take the first set. Whereas the world number 43 began to commit errors as Raducanu rolled through three consecutive games.
Rogers, 10 years older than her opponent, has battled back from knee surgery and reached the US Open quarter-finals last year. As she did, Raducanu stepped forward and began to impose herself on the exchanges, carefully moving Rogers around.
The world No.150 completed yet another famous victory on her fourth match point to make it through to her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final against Bencic.
Bencic continued her breakout summer form by beating Iga Swiatek, the seventh seed, 7-6(12), 6-3. The victory is her 13th in 14 singles matches since clinching gold and women’s doubles silver in Tokyo.
“Belinda’s a great player who’s in great form. So I know I’m going to have to bring it on Wednesday,” said Raducanu.
