Bromley teenager was meant to have met her match in Belinda Bencic but she dismantled the Swiss in a masterclass
Less than 10 minutes after Emma Raducanu emerged from the tunnel into Arthur Ashe Stadium for the biggest match of her life against the highest-calibre opponent she’d ever faced, the emerging British star was promptly broken in her opening service game.
This is where the fairytale was meant to end: opposite the in-form Belinda Bencic, the newly minted Olympic gold medallist who had lost just once in her last 14 matches, whose experience and formidable power would surely be too much for a teenager ranked 150th in the world.
