Belinda Bencic was sitting in Arthur Ashe stadium on Saturday night as Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff battled each other and then cried together. Everyone else was there to see the show and the hype, but Bencic has already experienced enough hype to last a lifetime. She scouted her next match, then quietly departed without a word on social media. On Monday, her preparations proved sufficient as Bencic ended Naomi Osaka’s US Open defence with 7-5, 6-3 win in the fourth round.

Osaka and Bencic were born in 1997, but it is difficult to think of two more different paths to this moment. While Osaka forewent junior tennis and arrived on the big stages fully formed, seemingly out of nowhere, Bencic was perhaps even more prodigious than Gauff. As a junior, she won two grand slam titles and became junior number one, slaying all opposition in a 39-match winning streak.