Emma Raducanu surges into quarter-finals at Korea Open with straight sets win 65
Emma Raducanu surges into quarter-finals at Korea Open with straight sets win 66
Emma Raducanu surges into quarter-finals at Korea Open with straight sets win 67
Emma Raducanu storms into the quarter-finals of the Korea Open with a straight sets win over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer as the British number one continues to rebuild in the wake of her first-round exit from the US Open
Emma Raducanu took one hour and 40 minutes to beat Yanina WickmayerThe British number one reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3 7-5 victory Raducanu looks to bounce back from his recent exit from the US Open in the first roundThe 19-year-old will meet Magda Linette from Poland in the last eight
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Emma Raducanu reached the quarter-finals of the Korea Open after easing to a 6-3 7-5 victory over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.
The British No. 1 and the tournament’s sixth seed took an hour and 40 minutes to continue to rebuild in the wake of her recent first-round exit from the US Open, the event that catapulted her to stardom last year.
Last week’s Slovenia Open lasted just one round longer, but in Seoul she showed the determination needed to overcome a fightback from Wickmayer as a 4-1 lead in the second set ebbed away.
Emma Raducanu has advanced to the quarter-finals of the US Open with a straight set victory
Former world number 12 Wickmayer had fallen to 460 in the rankings after taking a break from the game following the birth of her first child in 2021, but she was a dangerous opponent who grew stronger in the match.
Raducanu, who will meet Magda Linette of Poland in the last eight, was unable to make the most of a break point in the third game, but she dominated the fifth and won without dropping a point to claim a decisive foothold in the opening set.
Yet her earlier composure deserted her on the next serve and she double-faulted at the crucial moment to concede the lead.
But Wickmayer faltered on his serve again and Raducanu took full control in the ninth, taking the set through a mix of commanding shots and errors from his opponent.
Raducanu claimed a 6-3 7-5 victory over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in Seoul last night
It took grit, an ace and a superb forehand for Raducanu to maintain her advantage as the second set opened with an 11-minute game and in no time she had eased into a 3-0 lead.
A collapse followed as 3-0 became 4-3 and, despite a superb backhand pass shot on the run-up, Raducanu came under heavy pressure from the determined Belgian.
Every point had become a match point, but match point came in the 12th and when Wickmayer sent a long shot, she was through to the last eight.
Earlier on Wednesday, Raducanu had spoken about how she is trying to ‘build up physically’ for 2023 and how training has gone with coach Dmitry Tursunov.
She said: ‘Last week I was struggling a bit with my legs, I was just training a lot and like I said, the rest of this year is just really trying to build up physically for next year,’ she said.
Raducanu is hoping to build some momentum after her US Open first-round defeat last month
‘So I’m training a lot – like before the game today I played 90 minutes on the pitch and I’m just trying to get myself in good shape.
‘And it sometimes comes with little piglets. At the moment it’s something I’m just managing, but I know it’s for a greater good, so I’ve kind of bought into that process.
‘I’ve definitely done more since I started with Dmitry. I’ve put in a lot more hours and it’s something that he and the others on my team think is pretty necessary, myself included, just getting more robust so long matches or consecutive matches don’t affect me.
“And I also think that I just don’t try to complicate things for myself, he helps with that, because sometimes I enjoy doing that, thinking about the worst possible outcome and just overthinking it. So he tries to help me as well with becoming more relaxed’.