Emma Raducanu eyes redemption with potential Jessica Pegula rematch on the horizon in Wuhan

Britain’s Emma Raducanu is gearing up for another tough draw at the Wuhan Open. The WTA 1000 event is set to begin officially from Monday, where some of the world’s best players will participate to lift the title and improve their rankings before the end of the season.

The draws for the competition were recently announced, where Raducanu is set to face another set of difficult opponents. The 22-year-old’s first round opponent will be America’s Ann Li. It will be the second meeting between the two players in professional tennis.

In the only previous meeting between the two players, which came in the round of 32 of the Eastbourne Open earlier this year, Raducanu came out on top with a score of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1. If Raducanu manages to get past Li, she will face the winner of the match between Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova and Canada’s Victoria Mboko.

If Raducanu manages to get past either of these two players, her third-round opponent could be America’s Jessica Pegula. The 31-year-old, who is currently ranked seventh in the world in women’s tennis in the singles category, has been given a bye in the first round and will face the winner of the match between Ashlyn Krueger and Hailey Baptiste in the second round.

Raducanu and Pegula faced off recently in the third round of the China Open, where the American tennis star came out on top with a score of 3-6, 7-6, 6-0. During that match, Pegula had to save three match points in the second set before turning the tide of the contest. She ultimately won the set and was flawless in the third set. Talking after the match, Raducanu admitted that it was a tough defeat for her, especially given the situation where she had multiple opportunities to finish the match.

"Yeah, I think it was hard for me,” said Raducanu after that defeat. “The last two matches that I lost, I had match points in both and it's not something that's really happened to me before and then to happen twice in a week was pretty new to get my head around. The second match, I found it easier to get over than the first because I know I was playing some better tennis and just improving with my level. I feel like I didn't take too long to kind of dwell on it and just got straight back to work. And I do feel like I'm improving and making progress. I still see the differences in where I want to go but I know I'm doing good work day-to-day to try and get there."

It was the second time in 2025 that Raducanu was on the receiving end in the match against Pegula. She suffered a defeat in a similar kind of circumstances in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open earlier this year, as well, where Pegula came out on top with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-2. Overall, Raducanu and Pegula have faced each other on four occasions. Pegula led the head-to-head with a score of 3-1. Raducanu’s only win over Pegula came in the round of 16 of the Eastbourne Open in 2024 with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Raducanu, during the press talk, mentioned specifically that she lost the last two matches in a similar pattern, by not being able to capitalize on securing the match points. The other match she was referring to came in the round of 16 of the Korea Open where the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova came out on top with a score of 4-6, 7-6, 6-1. Overall, Raducanu has played 46 matches in 2025 where she managed to win 27 and suffered 19 defeats in the process.