Emma Raducanu of the United States and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, the only two players to have defeated Serena Williams this year in majors, will face off in the U.S. Open semifinals on Friday.
The semifinal match features a rematch of the Wimbledon semifinals, where Raducanu defeated Bencic by 6-2, 6-3, and Bencic downed Williams in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Bencic won their most recent meeting, in the French Open fourth round, on Aug. 30. But Raducanu stunned Bencic, 6-4, 7-5, in their last meeting in California in June.
Raducanu advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in which she served eight aces, saved two break points in the second set and never faced a break point.
“At this level, everyone has great power on their serve,” Raducanu said after the match. “I’m just trying to really focus on the things that I can control.”
Bencic advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Raducanu also beat Barty on the hard courts at Stanford this year.
“For me, it was never like ‘Oh, here we go,’” Bencic said. “I thought I still really had a chance. I knew she would probably go for her shots. She loves this surface, so I knew she would be very aggressive. I was always confident in that respect.”
Bencic has reached the U.S. Open semifinals once before, in 2014.
“For me, it’s the best feeling ever,” Bencic said. “It’s amazing to be in the semifinals, and also again for her, the first time, really big win.”
Raducanu, 25, was born in Romania but is now a citizen of the United States. She reached her first grand slam semifinal, at the Australian Open in January, after she won three first-round matches at the U.S. Open. She made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon last month.
Bencic, 22, won her fifth career main draw title at the French Open. She followed that up with a victory at the Stanford event last month.