Emma Raducanu match postponed as Brit handed Korea Open quarter-final concern | Tennis | Sport
Emma Raducanu‘s Korea Open quarter-final against Daria Kasatkina has been postponed until Saturday due to wet weather conditions in Seoul.
The former US Open champion is on an impressive run in South Korea, notching straight-sets wins over Peyton Stearns and Yue Yuan to forge her way into the last eight. But a tougher test awaits for Raducanu when she meets top seed Kasatkina.
Their showdown was originally slated for Friday, but the WTA has confirmed that all Korea Open matches have been cancelled until Saturday due to rainfall. Worryingly for Raducanu, the postponement means that all singles quarter-finals and semi-finals will have to be played in one day.
Though every player will be forced to deal with the same difficulties, the schedule change may be of extra concern to Raducanu given that she encountered injury trouble in her win over Yuan in the last round.
Raducanu had to call on the physio and have her foot taped up before needing seven match points to haul the victory over the line. The Brit will need to draw on whatever endurance she has on Saturday after deliberately limiting the number of tournaments she played during the summer.
She skipped the Paris Olympics to focus on the American hard-court swing before being ruthlessly knocked out of the US Open in the first round by Sofia Kenin. Raducanu admitted her mistake in the aftermath and has now revealed that she plans to be as active as possible for the remainder of the season.
“I think the rest of the year, as long as I’m healthy, I’m going to try and finish the season and play as many matches as I can,” she said. “It’s something I’m really light on since the grass through the (Washington) DC period. I’ve not played many points, even in practice.
“So, as gruelling as (the match against Stearns) was, I think I had three hours of match experience which can only aid me going into the next few weeks. For me now, I just want to play matches and, in the meantime, do a little bit of work on my game where I can.”
Raducanu may need to produce something special to reach the Korea Open semi-finals, having met upcoming opponent Kasatkina twice before and lost on both occasions. The Russian did not drop a set in either of their previous meetings, with the latest being a dominant victory at the Rothesay International in June.
