Bencic Battles Past Swiatek At US Open, Gets Teen Raducanu; Sabalenka v Krejcikova In QF

Gold medalist Belinda Bencic kept her strong summer run going outlasting Iga Swiatek in a tight 7-6(12), 6-3 affair Monday in the US Open fourth round.

“Very happy to be through,” said Bencic. “Of course it was a very difficult match. Very close tiebreak. So it was very important I think to win that first set and then start well into the second. I’m happy with how I fought. I felt like I could have played a little bit better, but of course Iga is a player who doesn’t make it easy for you.”

Bencic saved four set points in a marathon 25+ minute breaker, then broke early in the second and got into her third US Open quarterfinal.

“I feel like here I have had kind of my first big successes in a Grand Slam,” said Bencic. “I was 17 when I made my first quarterfinal, so that also kind of gave me this idea. I definitely feel like it’s just adding to the experiences.

“I feel like from all of these situations you can always learn something. Now I definitely learn, you know, how it is to be in the second week, how to manage these quarterfinals, semifinals matches,” she said. “I also feel Olympics helped me a lot in this, I played big matches there, as well, and I kind of know now how it feels, you know, to go for, yeah, to go deep in a tournament and an important tournament.”

Bencic, who has won 13 of her last 14 matches, will meet the British teen Emma Raducanu.

The 18-year-old went down early to Shebly Rogers before running off 11 straight games thanks to a flurry over errors from the last American woman. Raducanu advanced with ease 6-2, 6-1 and after four main draw matches she’s dropped just 15 games.

“Shelby Rogers is an extremely experienced opponent, so I knew I would have to bring it today,” To play on Ashe 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.

Though she hasn’t face anyone in the Top 40. That will change on Wednesday.

“Of course she’s up and coming and amazing talent,” Bencic said of Raducanu. “I didn’t see much yet how she played, but what I saw is definitely she’s very athletic, she’s moving great, and, I mean, she has great results.”

Later, Karolina Pliskova moved closer getting past fellow 2021 Slam finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-4. Pliskova only connect on six aces, but the Russian tossed in 34 unforced errors.

“Super happy with the win because the last two matches I lost against her. I think was important to get the win today,” Pliskova said. “I don’t think was super pretty match, not really good feeling from that. But I guess that doesn’t matter if I’m in the quarterfinals.”

She’ll await the late-night winner between former champion Bianca Andreescu and French Open semifinalist Maria Sakkari who were locked at a set apiece.

Tomorrow, the quarterfinals get underway with teen star Leylah Fernandez facing 2019 semifinalist Elina Svitolina. Svitolina has won her last nine matches while the 19-year-old has wins over Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber in her last two rounds.

At night, after her win over Garbine Muguruza, Barbora Krejcikova will test No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka.

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