Emma Raducanu faces her toughest challenge yet this evening as she takes on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the US Open quarter-finals.
After bursting onto the scene with a stunning run to the round of 16 at Wimbleton this summer, British sensation Raducanu is once again the top story at Flushing Meadows.
The 18-year-old overcame three qualifying matches just to enter the prestigious tournament, where she has reached the second week with four emphatic performances, still to drop a set and losing only 15 games in total.
Raducanu’s most impressive performance came in a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of American Shelby Rogers, where she showed phenomenal poise after a rocky start to the match, having fallen 2-0 behind.
However, the draw has certainly been kind to Raducanu, who is yet to face a seeded opponent, with her scheduled first-round opponent world No 14 Jennifer Brady pulling out beforehand with injury.
In Bencic, Raducanu comes up against an opponent who took gold in Tokyo just a few weeks ago. And she has continued her fine form in New York, knocking out seventh seed Iga Swiatek and 23rd seed Jessica Pegula.
The spectacle will be up first on the famous Arthur Ashe court and is set to be a thrilling affair.
With the highly-anticipated match-up swiftly approaching, Sportsmail takes you through everything you need to know.
Emma Raducanu kicks off the action on Arthur Ashe this evening in her US Open quarter-final
She takes on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic who has continued her fine form in New York
When is Emma Raducanu vs Belinda Bencic?
The quarter-final clash between Raducanu and Bencic is set to take place on Wednesday, September 8.
The match is first up in the prestigious Arthur Arshe Stadium, with the action getting underway from 5pm.
Alexander Zverev will then take to the court, before an intriguing match-up between Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari, with Novak Djokovic up last.
How to watch the match
Raducanu vs Bencic will be available to watch on Amazon Prime Video for those in the UK and Ireland, as has been the case for the tournament in its entirety.
For those who don’t have a membership, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.
Sportsmail will also be running a live blog, so you can keep up-to-date with us.
Routes to the quarter-final
Emma Raducanu
Round 1: 6-2 6-3 vs Stefanie Vogele
Round 2: 6-2 6-4 vs Zhang Shuai
Round 3: 6-0 6-1 vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
Round of 16: 6-2 6-1 vs Shelby Rogers
Belinda Bencic
Round 1: 6-4 6-4 vs Arantxa Rus
Round 2: 6-3 6-1 vs Martina Trevisan
Round 3: 6-2 6-4 vs Jessica Pegula
Round of 16: 7-6 6-3 vs Iga Swiatek
Raducanu put in a scintillating performance to defeat Shelby Rogers in the round of 16
What has Raducanu said?
Raducanu expressed her delight in her on-court interview after reaching the quarter-finals.
‚It feels absolutely amazing,‘ she said. ‚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.‘
She also addressed Virginia Wade, the last British woman to win the US Open, who was in attendance.
She 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 expressed her delight after shaking off the nerves to storm past Rogers
Virginia Wade has hailed Raducanu and also believes that the British starlet ‚ticks all the boxes‘
Tim Henman revealed he was highly surprised by Raducanu’s reaction after going 2-0 down, describing her performance as ‚incredible‘.
He said: ‚It was so special, to see Emma Raducanu get off to that nervous start, you felt for her, but she showed courage to dig her heels in and fight her way out of that. I did not expect her to react like that, it was incredible.
‚Even up 6-2, 5-1 it is not easy to finish it off. I was so impressed how she kept her composure and finished it off. She had very good support even playing an American, it will be interesting in the next match to see whether she has a majority of support.‘
US Open winner odds
Aryna Sabalenka – 5/4
Karolina Pliskova – 4/1
Leylah Fernandez – 5/1
Belinda Bencic – 11/2
Maria Sakkari – 7/1
Emma Raducanu – 8/1
*Odds as per Betfair and correct at the time of publication
What prize money is on offer?
A whopping $57.5million is on offer to the players this tournament in what is a new record.
The prize money is the same for men and women, with Raducanu already guaranteed at least $425,000.
- Winner: $2,500,000
- Runner-up: $1,250,000
- Semi-finalist: $675,000
- Quarter-finalist: $425,000
Today’s order of play
Arthur Ashe Stadium (5pm BST start)
Emma Raducanu vs Belinda Bencic (11), Alexander Zverev (4) vs Lloyd George Harris, Karolina Pliskova (4) vs Maria Sakkari (17), Novak Djokovic (1) v Matteo Berrettini (6).
Louis Armstrong Stadium (5pm start)
Marie Bouzkova & Lucie Hradecka (15) v Gabriela Dabrowski & Luisa Stefani (5), Giuliana Olmos & Marcelo Arevalo v Dayana Yastremska & Max Purcell, Su-Wei Hsieh & Elise Mertens (1) v Coco Gauff & Catherine McNally (1), Alexa Guarachi & Desirae Krawczyk (7) v Monica Niculescu & Elena Gabriela Ruse.