British teenager Emma Raducanu continued her dream run at the US Open with another impressive straight-sets victory. This time over China's Zhang Shuai to reach the third round on debut.
The 18-year-old showed composure beyond her years to gain revenge over the Chinese No 1, who beat her at the Silicon Valley Classic in August, with a stunning 6-2 6-4 victory.
Raducanu has followed up her remarkable run to the last 16 at Wimbledon in July with another outstanding display at a major.
The right-hander from Bromley was determined to give her experienced rival a better contest after improving during the ensuing weeks having come through three rounds of qualifying and securing her first main draw victory in New York against Stefanie Vogele.
"I've had five matches here in New York, so I feel very comfortable with the conditions and the courts," said Raducanu.
"I'm getting more and more used to it and each round I feel I'm going for my shots more, and today I think that was evident. I think I've come a very long way since my first qualifying match here, but also since the first tournament of this trip five weeks ago.
"Playing at the tour level for so many weeks in a row definitely builds your confidence and I've been fortunate enough to win quite a few matches."
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Raducanu made a whirlwind start on a sun-drenched Court 10 following Wednesday night's heavy wind and torrential rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
The world No 150 broke to love in the first game and appeared thoroughly accomplished on serve in building a 3-1 lead.
She continued to show the form that has made her one of the most high-profile young players in the world with an aggressive assault on Zhang's serve. Her wand of a forehand was causing all sorts of damage and Raducanu soon closed out the set with another faultless service game.
The relentless pressure continued into the second set with Raducanu dominating the longer rallies to leave world No 49 Zhang bewildered.
Zhang, 32, cut a frustrated figure and was simply feeding off the scraps by the time Raducanu strode into a 4-0 lead.
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But her opponent finally halted the teenager's momentum with a run of three games in a row, although the teenager responded with a superb hold to move one game away from victory.
Zhang held to apply the pressure on Raducanu, but the Briton stayed calm and collected to get the job done and set up a third-round meeting with another of 2021's form players Sara Sorribes Tormo after the Spaniard beat Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1 6-3.
"That match meant so much to me on a personal level," said Raducanu. "I wanted to win so, so bad.
"I knew there was going to be adversity at some point in the match and, honestly, I was 6-2 4-0 up but I was having to work so hard for every single point, and the games, they were very long and challenging.
"The scoreline was saying one thing, but the level of tennis we were both playing I think was suggesting a completely different story.
"It didn't really bother me that she came back because I knew that she's a great player, she's extremely experienced, she's going to throw everything she had at me. So I'm just very proud of myself for overcoming that and managing to close it out at the end."
Should Raducanu reach the fourth round, she would likely get a crack at world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, who fought off the challenge of another 18-year-old in Dane Clara Tauson.
Barty, who has never been beyond the last 16 in New York, raced into a 5-0 lead but Tauson put up a strong fight in the second set, breaking the Wimbledon champion when she served for the match.
But Barty finished things off at the second attempt for a 6-1 7-5 victory.
The Australian is aiming to win a second successive Slam title after victory at Wimbledon, and she said: "There is momentum in a sense that was one of my greatest goals to win that tournament.
"I think playing and understanding how to win grand slams is very unique. Two weeks is a long time to be focused and to be able to have a bit of luck, stay healthy.
"I've learnt that the hard way that sometimes it doesn't always go your way. But also, it's a different surface, a different tournament, completely different conditions."
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