Sep 6, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Emma Raducanu of Great Britain serves to Shelby Rogers of the United States on day eight of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
British teen Emma Raducanu continued her stunning run through the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 6-1 dismantling of Shelby Rogers on Monday in New York to become only the third qualifier to reach the women’s quarterfinals at the prestigious event.
Raducanu, 18, needed only 65 minutes to defeat Rogers, the final American woman left in the tournament. The victor had 18 winners against 14 unforced errors.
Raducanu joins Barbara Gerken (1981) and Kaia Kanepi (2017) as qualifiers to advance this far since the Open Era began in 1968.
A nervous Raducanu lost the first two games on Monday before getting comfortable and winning 12 of the final 13.
“It means a lot to have gone out there and to have performed,” Raducanu said afterward. “Shelby Rogers is an extremely experienced opponent, so I knew I would have to bring it today.
“To play (in Arthur Ashe Stadium) for the first time, it was a little bit of a nervy experience in the beginning. I was really proud of myself, how I managed to settle and regroup and find a level that at the end took me to the win.”
Rogers, who upset top-seeded Ashleigh Barty in her previous match, struggled badly against Raducanu. She had 29 unforced errors to just 14 winners.
“It was a tough day at the office,” Rogers said. “Unfortunately, I had to fail in front of thousands and thousands of people. So I have to live with that one.”
Raducanu next faces 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Bencic, who won the gold medal at the recent Tokyo Olympics, knocked out seventh-seeded Pole Iga Swiatek 7-6 (12), 6-3.
“Belinda is a great player who’s in great form,” Raducanu said, “so I know I’m going to have to bring it on Wednesday.”
Bencic had 33 winners against 28 unforced errors in her win over Swiatek.
The two battled for 84 minutes in the marathon first set that saw Bencic finally end it on her fifth set point. Swiatek failed to convert four set points, three of them in the tiebreaker.
The second set felt like a breeze to Bencic after winning the opener.
“It’s mentally important because you know when you lose a set like this, it’s very frustrating,” Bencic said.
Swiatek had 31 winners against 26 unforced errors.
Fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the fourth time, defeating 14th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-4.
Pliskova had 24 winners and 24 unforced errors, while Pavlyuchenkova had nearly twice as many errors (34) as winners (19).
Pliskova next will face 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece, who rallied to win a late-night clash against sixth-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-3. The 3 1/2-hour battle ended around 2:15 a.m. ET.