Belinda Bencic has dreamed of winning grand slams and being world No.1 ever since her parents begged Martina Hingis’s mother to coach her at four years of age.
Now the former child prodigy is two wins away from becoming the first Swiss woman since Hingis 20 years ago to snare a major singles crown after continuing her magical US Open run in New York.
Bencic backed up her stunning fourth-round elimination of world No.1 Naomi Osaka with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 quarter-final triumph over good friend Donna Vekic on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old’s breakthrough is all the more satisfying after Bencic plummeted from seventh in the world to out of the top 300 in 2017 following wrist surgery.
“I was dreaming, of course, about this day coming, but you never know what’s going to happen,” she said.
“You’re not thinking about it. You’re just right in the moment. Either you’re practising or focusing on your match.
“I worked hard for this. It’s not like I never imagined I could do this. Still, like, I stayed in the moment. Yeah, very nice feeling.”
The 12th seed is Switzerland’s last hope in the singles following the quarter-final exits on Tuesday of men’s heavyweights Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
“This is not a good thing. I’m not happy about this actually,” Bencic said.
“Yeah, I’m kind of surprised, like I think everyone is. It would be really nice if the boys could also make it to semi-finals. But I’m happy I can kind of do it for them and don’t let them down.”
Bencic will play 15th seed Bianca Andreescu for a spot in Saturday’s title decider after the Canadian teenager continued her remarkable season with a 3-6 6-2 6-3 quarter-final win over Belgian Elise Mertens.
The winner will play either 10-times finalist and six-times champion Serena Williams or Ukrainian world No.5 Elina Svitolina for the trophy.