In July, on the day she was supposed to begin her quest for glory on home soil at the Junior Championships, Wimbledon, Great Britain’s Ranah Stoiber was agonisingly forced pull out of the tournament.

The pain she was feeling in her lower back was diagnosed as a small fracture, and rather than risk it getting worse, Stoiber withdrew from SW19.

However, it is safe to say the disappointment she felt at the time is being suitably erased by her current run at the US Open Junior Championships.

The 17-year-old Londoner pulled off one of two eye-catching results in the girls' draw on Wednesday as she knocked out reigning Wimbledon champion Liv Hovde 6-3 2-6 6-4 in a second-round clash.

In grabbing the win, Stoiber smacked 25 winners to Hovde’s eight, and followed that up a matter of hours later with a smooth 7-6(2) 6-0 victory over Canada’s Kayla Cross to reach the quarter-finals.

Asked about her thoughts at the moment of victory, Stoiber laughed.

“I was thinking, ‘I just knocked out the Wimbledon champion,’” she said.

“I allowed myself a little celebration after, but I think I’ll allow more in future when it’s all done. Honestly, it gives me a lot of confidence to beat someone of her level.”

The other surprise in the girls' draw came in the third round when No.1 seed, Belgium's Sofia Costoulas, was beaten by 15-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is the No. 14 seed here.

Andreeva dropped the first set 7-5, but raced through the final two sets 6-4 6-1 to reach her first Junior Grand Slam quarter-final.

For Stoiber, her surge to the last eight follows the aforementioned back injury earlier this year which forced her to take a month off. She said she only was able to play for about two weeks before heading to New York.

While here, she has been to Times Square and hopes to see the Empire State Building before she departs. Unsurprisingly, like every young British female player, she credited 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu as an inspiration.

“She was here in juniors a few years ago just like me so who knows? Maybe one day soon I can get on the stage she’s at,” Stoiber said. “I dream about winning the U.S. Open and holding the trophy. Hopefully I can do it this week.”

The quarter-finals of the girls' singles will feature six of the top 10 seeds, but also 16-year-old American Clervie Ngounoue, who won two matches in straight sets Wednesday.

“I thought I played awesome today, really solid and really strong in my legs,” said Ngounoue, who was playing just her third tournament since overcoming a foot injury.

It was a certaintly a busy day for players competing in both singles and doubles, with most players only completing one round of singles before Tuesday’s rain.

On the boys’ side, things went much more according to form. With compatriot Kim Clijsters an interested observor during the second set, No. 2 seed Gilles Arnaud Bailly advanced to the quarter-finals with a tough 6-3 4-6 6-3 win over Yaroslav Demin.

Bailly only played one singles match on Wednesday, although many of his fellow competitors played two.

“I just think it’s so much better for your body the next day, playing one singles and one doubles, as opposed to some of these guys who had to play two singles and a doubles,” said Bailly, the runner-up at this year's Roland Garros.

“I’m just trying to keep my expectations low and keep my standards really high. It’s good dealing with the pressure, I’m trying to embrace it.”

Top seed Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, meanwhile, won both of his matches to advance to the quarter-finals, while third seed Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland outlasted No. 16 seed Michael Zheng 7-6 4-6 6-4.

No. 5 Martin Landaluce of Spain had a major battle late in the day but prevailed 7 -5 in the third set against Slovakia’s Peter Benjamin Privara.

Two upsets involved American players: No. 4 seed Nishesh Basavareddy was defeated 6-2 6-1 by Belgium’s Alexander Blockx, while Kyle Kang continued his superb run with another win when Slovakian opponent Peter Nad was forced to retire at 5-5 in the first set.

The quarter-finals on both draws are all expected to be played Thursday