Through four rounds at the 2021 US Open, Emma Raducanu has dropped just 15 games—an average of less than two per set. In four main-draw rounds, she's eclipsed the high standard she set in qualifying, where she surrendered 16 games in three matches.
The scoreline in her Round 3 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo could have been an order in a New York City deli, as the Briton won with a bagel and a breadstick, 6-0, 6-1. In the Round of 16, she won 11 straight games against Shelby Rogers before the American stopped her short of a baker's dozen.
But Raducanu is not feeding into the one-sided storyline. To build off of USOpen.org's collection of proposed "walk-out songs" for tennis stars, perhaps Raducanu would select "Don't Believe the Hype," the 1988 hit by New York hip-hop group Public Enemy. (The 18-year-old is a fan of rap music, as well as jazz, though she was born 14 years after that song's release.)
"I think the scorelines are quite irrelevant," she said, "because the matches and the dynamic and the games, a lot are going to deuce. Those long games, like, one [player] can win them, but it's such a tight match. It's very difficult to call."
But as the wins pile up, her comfort level on the big stage grows: "I'm feeling very confident and happy with how I'm performing out here in the States," she said following her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut against Rogers. "I feel like I'm building with each match. I'm really excited to see what I can do on Wednesday."
Raducanu's quarterfinal opponent is Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic, the only other player in either singles draw who hasn't lost a set. The pair will open play in Ashe at noon on Day 10.
Watch: Spotlight on Emma Raducanu (story continues below)
But widening the scope, the world No. 150's domination of the US Open women's singles bracket is only equalled by Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in recent years.
On Osaka's path to her breakout 2018 US Open title, she notched three straight 6-0 sets and never dropped more than six games in a match, outside of her three-set fourth-round win over 2021 semifinalist Aryna Sabalenka.
In 2016, Angelique Kerber did not drop a set until her three-set final win over Karolina Pliskova—though a pair of 6-0 and 6-1 sets were evened out by a number of tighter stanzas.
Williams was downright dominant in her three-year run of US Open titles from 2012-14. She lost just one set in both 2012 and 2013—both in the final against Victoria Azarenka—and went 14-for-14 in 2014 sets. The American dropped just 21 games in her first six matches in 2012, including three straight 6-0 sets of her own, and four 6-1 scorelines. In 2013, she won five bagel sets (including another three in a row), dropping just 16 games on her way to the final. And in 2014, Serena never lost more than three games in a set.
Raducanu has a long road ahead to match that trio of champions with a US Open title—though she does already have seven wins in New York, if you include qualies. No matter what happens from here, Raducanu has secured her career-best Grand Slam result by reaching the US Open quarterfinals.
If she can make it there—to be among the last eight in tennis' toughest test—she can make it anywhere. It's up to her in New York.
