Raducanu to face Sakkari in US Open semi-finals

by Les Roopanarine

It is almost impossible to keep pace with Emma Raducanu, such is the rate at which she accumulates achievements. Still, let’s try. In beating Belinda Bencic, the Olympic champion and world No 12, to reach the semi-finals of the US Open at her first attempt, she claimed the highest-ranked scalp of her rapidly blossoming career. She is the first women’s singles qualifier to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows – and only the fourth to reach that stage at any major – and has yet to drop a set. 

After playing just four WTA Tour events, Raducanu will rise almost 100 places in the rankings, to the brink of the top 50; to put that in context, she was ranked 338th before her run to the last 16 at Wimbledon two months ago. At 18, she is the youngest woman to reach the last four in New York since Maria Sharapova in 2005 – a record that fellow teen sensation Leylah Fernandez held for less than 24 hours – and will now displace Johanna Konta as the British No 1.

In the space of a few short days, this remarkable young woman seems to have acquired more landmarks than the Manhattan skyline. Not that you’ll catch her counting.

“I have actually got no idea about any of the records at all,” said Raducanu, who will play Maria Sakkari in the last four. “It’s the first time I heard today that I was the first qualifier to make the semis. I had no idea before that. I’m not here to chase any records right now. I’m just taking care of what I can do on the moment and on the match ahead. Haven’t even started thinking about the next one yet.”

Of course she hasn’t. Like the rest of us, Raducanu scarcely seems able to believe it all. And in that, she is infinitely relatable. When she outrallied Bencic for the final time to complete her eighth consecutive victory, she clutched her head in incredulity, the familiar, radiant smile that never seems far from her face once again illuminating her features. Yet there is real steel beneath her affable, easy-going manner, and while she may have surprised even herself with the rapidity of her rise, that should not be mistaken for a lack of belief.

This was the second consecutive match in which Raducanu has had to recover from a shaky start, with the difference here being that she faced a significant step up in class. Like Shelby Rogers in the previous round, Bencic set out to overpower Raducanu; unlike Rogers, who was physically and emotionally spent after an epic victory over top seed Ashleigh Barty, Bencic looked pin-sharp in the early stages and remained competitive throughout. 

The Swiss made a commanding start, barely missing a ball initially as she broke in the second game and went on to open up a 3-1 lead. As against Rogers, Raducanu was swift to respond. Having come to terms with her opponent’s power and steadied the ship on her own serve, she made her move in the sixth game, trading blows with Bencic to earn her first break point. A snatched forehand betrayed her anxiety – or was it simply overenthusiasm? – but at deuce, a double fault from Bencic showed she too was feeling the weight of the occasion. A diligent return from Raducanu gave the Swiss an opportunity to miss, and Benic duly obliged.

With the match back on level terms, Raducanu went from strength to strength. She earned a break point for 5-3, punctuating a baseline exchange of breath-taking quality with a running forehand winner, and rifled a pass to convert the opportunity before serving out nervelessly. Bencic, who came into the contest with 13 wins from her previous 14 matches, survived further pressure at the start of the second set, firing a bullet of a backhand past Raducanu to avoid falling 15-40 behind on serve. She fashioned two break points in the next game – and later had Raducanu at 0-30 in both of her final two service games – but, to her evident irritation, was unable to recover suffering another break in the fifth game.

“She’s a great player, and I knew it was going to be an extremely difficult match,” said Raducanu. “It took me some adjusting at the beginning to get used to her ball speed, how aggressive she was. Once I adjusted, I settled in. I didn’t overpress as much. I found a way to win, but it was very difficult to play against someone at such a high level.”

Bencic was disappointed at her failure to “show what I can play”, but could relate to what Raducanu and Fernandez have achieved in New York. She too broke through at a young age, qualifying for the Australian Open at 16 and making the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows the following year. Only now, with her Olympic victory at the age of 24, has she finally won a title commensurate with her talent, and she highlighted the importance of allowing the two teenage semi-finalists the space and freedom to develop at their own pace.

“It’s great for tennis,” said Bencic, the former world No 4. “It’s obviously great stories. I just really hope that everyone will protect them and will hope the best for them and try not to … kind of not destroy, but put so much pressure and so much hype around them that it just gets too much. I just hope everyone will stay, and will really hope the best for them, so they can just develop in peace a little bit.”

If things continue on their present trajectory, it is others who will need protecting from them.

Sakkari serves up a masterclass

Had someone said before the quarter-final showdown between Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari that the winner would break once in each set, never face a break point and compile a sequence of 22 consecutive points on serve, losing a miserly two points behind her first delivery, one would have assumed that they were talking about the big-serving Czech. In fact, it was Sakkari who inflicted the damage, an inspired performance carrying the Greek to a 6-4, 6-4 victory as Pliskova struggled to find her best tennis.

“I served really, really well,” said Sakkari, the world No 18, who is through to her second major semi-final after reaching the same stage at the French Open earlier this year. “I didn’t realise, but Pam [Shriver, who conducted the on-court interview with Sakkari afterwards] said I served, I don’t know how many points was it, 22 in a row? Wow, yeah. I said on court I was impressed.

“I’m very happy I managed my stress level and my expectations. Especially at the end of the match, it was quite tough to close it out, but I think I did quite well.”

For Pliskova, defeat marked an anticlimactic end to an inspired summer. Since slipping out of the top 10 for the first time in five years after a first-round loss at Eastbourne, the Czech has reached the second grand slam final of her career at Wimbledon, the Canadian Open final, the last four in Cincinnati, and risen to fourth in the rankings.

“I didn’t have any chances on her serve,” reflected Pliskova, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2016. “I don’t think I played the best tennis today. I don’t think I was serving the way I was serving the last couple matches, which you have to serve against opponents like this, because she doesn’t give you much for free.

“I was actually not surprised, because I know she’s playing well, and we had one practice before this tournament. But I was quite surprised she was really going for her shots. I know she can be also, like, maybe passive at some times. She was not really. Even the match point, I thought she really went for it, playing really fast. Not many chances for me to play what I would love to play.”

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