Continuing a streak that began in the qualifying draw, Emma Raducanu won her 19th consecutive set at this U.S. Open in style, but it was a battle like none have been before for her.
The 18-year-old from Britain earned double set point with her opponent, Leylah Fernandez, serving at 4-5, hitting a sharply angled cross-court backhand return winner off a slow Fernandez second serve.
Raducanu missed her first set point opportunity by pushing a backhand long, and couldn’t make a difficult backhand lob on the run on her second opportunity.
Raducanu earned a third set point when Fernandez missed a forehand long, but missed her backhand return into the net.