NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Teen Tennis Phenom Emma Raducanu Sails Into U.S. Open Semis

The 18-year-old Brit becomes the second unseeded teenager in the tournament to make the final four after Leylah Fernandez.

Eighteen-year-old tennis player Emma Raducanu, ranked 150 in the world, just earned herself a spot in the U.S. Open semifinals and became the second unseeded teenager in the tournament to make the final four. (The other is Leylah Fernandez, who turned 19 on Tuesday.) Her quarterfinal win at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday was a dominant straight-set show of 6-3, 6-4 over Swiss player Belinda Bencic. Three months ago, Raducanu was a little-known name ranked 361 who hadn’t played in a match in a year and a half—before she made headlines by making it to the fourth round at Wimbledon. Now she’s beaten her first top-40 player and hasn’t dropped a single set all tournament.

Raducanu has made history as the first qualifier to reach the final four at Flushing Meadows, the youngest semifinalist since Maria Sharapova in 2005, and only the third woman ranked outside the top 100 to ever reach a U.S. Open semifinal. However, “I’m not here to chase any records right now,” she told ESPN. “I’m just taking care of what I can do [in] the moment.” On Thursday she faces Maria Sakkari of Greece for a shot at the finals.