Raducanu’s historic run reaches US Open semis

Emma Raducanu became the second teenager to reach the US Open semifinals in two days, upsetting Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4.

The 18-year-old qualifier from Britain joined Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who earned her semifinal spot Tuesday, a day after her 19th birthday. Raducanu is also the first tennis player, male or female, to reach the US Open semifinals in the Open era (since 1968), according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Raducanu fell behind early 3-1, but the quarterfinal match turned when she broke the 11th-seeded Bencic — who had lost serve only three times in four rounds — to even the set at 3 during her run of five straight games.

The 150th-ranked Raducanu, who has yet to lose a set at this tournament, followed Billie Jean King in 1979 and 2009 champion Kim Clijsters as the only women outside the top 100 of the rankings to reach the US Open semifinals. She is also the fourth women’s qualifier in the Open era to reach a major semifinal, along with Christine Dorey (1978 Australian Open), Alexandra Stevenson (1999 Wimbledon) and Nadia Podoroska (2020 French Open).

She wasn’t even ranked inside the top 350 just three months ago before a run to the fourth round of Wimbledon. Raducanu will play No. 4 Karolina Pliskova or 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari in the semifinals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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