06:50 PM
Not far away from Raducanu time
Nerves are starting to get to the pundits in the Amazon studio. Anne Keothavong, GB’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong just wants the game to get under way now.
“It’s such a huge moment for her, and British tennis. I can’t wait for her to just get on court and just start playing.”
Awaiting tonight’s winner will be Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic who continued her fine summer by defeating Iga Swiatek.
After failing to serve out the opening set, the Swiss 11th seed came out on top of a 26-point tie-break and maintained her record of not having dropped a set all tournament with a 7-6 (12), 6-3 victory.
Flushing Meadows has been Bencic’s most successful grand slam venue and this is the third time she has reached the last eight, with her best result a semi-final run two years ago.
06:43 PM
Zverev recovers to book place in quarters
Zverev battles back to win the tie-break 9-7, but only after a nervy few moments against Sinner.
From 4-1 down, the German rallied to draw level only to push a volley into the tramlines and could only look on as Sinner slapped a service return that whizzed past Zverev on the line to set up two more set points.
Unfortunately for Sinner, the adrenaline got the better of him and he inexplicably pushed a forehand wide for 6-all. Zverev kept closing the door with some excellent serving.
Finally, he turned the tie-break around to set up a first match point, and secured the win when Sinner’s forehand faltered again.
06:29 PM
Zverev forces tie-break in third set
We’re still a little way off the arrival of Raducanu and Rogers now after Sinner broke back to level the third set before squandering a couple of set points. Zverev served well to steer away from danger and force the tie-break.
06:19 PM
How Petchey helped fine tune Raducanu’s game
Mark Petchey, who is back working with Andy Murray, has detailed the tweaks made by Raducanu that have turned her into a grand slam champion in the making.
Petchey has been keeping a close eye on her development and spent five months reconstructing several core aspects of her game during Covid.
“On those occasions when I asked her what she wanted to do, nine out of 10 times she would say ‘return of serve’. So, the fact that she is on her way to becoming the best returner in the world is no fluke.”
Read more on how Raducanu has fine-tuned her game
06:05 PM
What should we expect from Rogers?
Raducanu goes up against a player keen to get on the front foot and use her power to dictate points from the back of the court in Rogers.
The American, at two inches taller than her rival at 5ft 9ins, has a powerful serve, and will look to cut short points, which means lung-busting rallies from the baseline are very much off the cards.
Rogers produced the win of her career in taking out Barty in the last round, and we’ll wait to see how she’s come down from that monumental effort to lift herself for a player outside the top 100.
The 28-year-old suffered a serious knee injury three years ago which saw her miss 13 months following surgery. Since returning to the tour, aside from reaching the last eight at the US Open last year, she has struggled to make it into the second week of the majors.
Flushing Meadows is by far her strongest grand slam, but how will she hold up this year knowing she is the last American left in both draws?
05:54 PM
The biggest stage is set for Raducanu
It’s another step into the unknown for teenager Emma Raducanu at the US Open, the last Brit standing at the final major of the season.
The 18-year-old has been developing quite a fanbase across the Atlantic, following her stunning run through to the fourth round without dropping a set.
For the first time this fortnight, however, Raducanu will stride out on to one of the show courts, indeed THE show court in the near-on 24,000 capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Throw in an opponent with a large proportion of fans backing one of their own in American Shelby Rogers, and Raducanu faces a difficult challenge as she looks to book her spot in a first ever grand slam quarter-final.
Rogers credited the spectators on Arthur Ashe with helping her get over the line and causing one of the biggest shocks of the tournament so far when she saw off the overwhelming favourite in Ashleigh Barty in three sets.
“They’re probably the reason I won tonight, to be honest,” the South Carolina native said of the vocal support she received. “I mean, my tactics, sure, were great—but they gave me something that I wouldn’t have probably been able to bring out of myself. So I’m super thankful for that.”
World No 43 Rogers said she was going to have to do her homework on ‘fearless’ Raducanu ahead of tonight’s match-up. Fearless seems an apt word given the youngster’s assured showing in New York over the last three weeks – if you factor in her run through qualifying too.
Nothing has yet wiped the beaming smile off Raducanu’s face, nor has anyone come close to rattling her or throwing her off course.
The 28-year-old American will look to get under Raducanu’s skin from early on, not allow the teenager to settle into proceedings, and capitalise on any nerves she no doubt will have in different surroundings.
Raducanu would do best to trust her instincts and continue playing her carefree style of power tennis that has seen her surge into this position and has got British tennis fans, and a fair few neutrals pretty excited about what the future holds.
The players will be on court following the conclusion of fourth seed Alexander Zverev’s fourth-round clash with the 13th seeded Jannik Sinner.
Zverev is currently two sets and a break up on the Italian.