Emma Raducanu set to face daunting Korea Open first round draw as star names drop out
Emma Raducanu is set to make her return to the WTA Tour at the Korea Open next week and she could be in line to face a daunting first round draw. Today marks the third anniversary of Raducanu’s famous US Open win in New York, as she became the first player to come through qualifying and lift a Grand Slam title. Her journey since then has been less than glorious, with a few brief highlights mixed with plenty of setbacks both in terms of her fitness and results on court.
After dropping out of the top 200 of the WTA Rankings last year, Raducanu got back into the top 100 after some good performances during the grass court season. That included a run to the last-16 at Wimbledon, but she has only played four matches in the two months since that run at the All England Club. That lack of action was primarily by choice, as Raducanu opted against playing in qualifying for the WTA 1000 event in Toronto and flew home to Britain to prepare for the US Open after playing just one warm-up event in Washington.
It was a decision that backfired badly for Raducanu, as she was forced to use her US Open first round match against Sofia Kenin as match practice and almost inevitably came up short in a three-set defeat. She insisted before and after the Kenin match that she would not expand her schedule, but she is now planning a busy few weeks of action that could look like this:
September 16-22: Korea Open
September 25-October 6: China Open
October 7-13: Wuhan Open
October 28-November 3 Hong Kong Open
Playing in all four of those events would give Raducanu a big chance to clamber back into the top 50 of the WTA Rankings, but she could have a huge challenge making progress in what is set to be star-studded events. She will not be seeded in any event she plays and could face world No 1 Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of all her upcoming events.
Two star names removed from the entry list at the Korea Open are Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula, who have both pulled out of the event before the draw. With no ranking points to defend for the rest of 2024, Raducanu will only need to win two or three matches to make a big leap in the rankings. “I’m just going to go back to the drawing board and train and analyse where I went wrong and try and improve for the rest of the season,” said Raducanu after her US Open exit.
“Obviously, the slams are over for this year, but it’s not actually that long until Australia comes around again.”
She also hinted the decision not to play more events ahead of the US Open was not just her decision, amid reports in the UK that playing in qualifying would not look good for her sponsors. “I would have preferred to probably play a little bit more before coming into the US Open,” added Raducanu. “I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything’s automatic.
“I can learn from it and, you know, manage my schedule slightly differently.
“It wasn’t just me. It was more of like a collective call and that’s what happened, and I can’t really change it.”
As ever with Raducanu, the eyes of the tennis world will be on her if she takes to the court in the Asian swing of the WTA Tour, as she will look to lift the negative mood that descended around her during the US hard court season.
