Emma Raducanu brushes off early wobbles to keep US Open fairytale alive

Bromley teenager was meant to have met her match in Belinda Bencic but she dismantled the Swiss in a masterclass

Less than 10 minutes after Emma Raducanu emerged from the tunnel into Arthur Ashe Stadium for the biggest match of her life against the highest-calibre opponent she had ever faced, the emerging British star was promptly broken in her opening service game.

This is where the fairytale was meant to end: opposite the in-form Belinda Bencic, the newly minted Olympic gold medallist who had lost only once in her last 14 matches, whose class and experience would surely be too much for a teenager ranked 150th in the world.