Emma Raducanu has sensationally sealed her spot in the US Open quarter-finals after an emphatic straight sets victory over American Shelby Rogers.
Raducanu looked nervy at the beginning, going down 2-0 in the opening set but what followed was extraordinary as she went onto bounce back in style.
The British sensation ended up claiming the opening set 6-2 before storming in the lead in the second set too at Flushing Meadows.
Raducanu cruised into a 4-0 lead before eventually going onto win 6-1 following a nervy final game on her serve in front of an amazed crowd on Monday.
She will now face Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the last-eight.
The 18-year-old is remarkably the youngest British quarter-finalist at the US Open in 62 years.
Raducanu, fresh off her incredible campaign at Wimbledon earlier this summer, certainly didn’t let her tough start get the better of her.
The victory was made even more astonishing by the fact that Rogers had defeated world number one Ashleigh Barty on Saturday to book her match with Raducanu.
Raducanu was the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 1990 to reach at least the fourth round of her first two grand slam tournaments and she is only the third qualifier to reach the quarter-finals in New York.
Rogers is ranked 43 in the world but this has been the tournament where the teenagers have shown that experience can count for little and Raducanu left another quality opponent shell-shocked.
The 18-year-old’s Wimbledon adventure ended in the fourth round in unfortunate circumstances when she struggled with breathing problems and had to retire, but she has shown with every match in New York how much she has progressed in the two months since.
Raducanu went into the match having dropped only 12 games through three matches, the fewest of any of the women left, and on the back of a sublime 6-0 6-1 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo.
This was a very different match-up, with Rogers one of the bigger hitters on tour compared to the spin and durability of Sorribes Tormo.
Raducanu looked nervous initially in the cavernous surrounds of Arthur Ashe and Rogers had two points for a 3-0 lead.
But the British teenager dug in and soon it was Rogers who was looking a little tight, making errors from the baseline that brought her opponent back on terms.
Watched by Virginia Wade, the last British woman to win a grand slam title and a resident of New York, Raducanu seized the momentum and ran with it, adjusting brilliantly to the pace of the Rogers’ shots and making her superior athleticism count.
A thumping return winner earned her a sixth game in a row and the opening set, and Rogers looked all out of ideas as Raducanu extended her run in the second set.
She was 5-0 up before Rogers finally stopped the rot and, although there were again a few signs of closing nerves, Raducanu clinched her fourth match point and another remarkable win.
In her on-court interview, the teenager said: “It feels absolutely amazing. Shelby is a great opponent, she’s done so well in the US Open and she’s had a great week so 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.”
Addressing Wade, also the last British woman 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.”
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