Emma Raducanu is into the latter stages of the 2024
Korea Open after a pretty impressive display from the Brit as she saw off Yue Yuan who last year reached the final in Seoul.
Raducanu's only issues came in finishing the match in which she had to seal it on the seventh match point. The former US Open champion claimed it 6-4, 6-3. She will now face Daria Kasatkina or Hailey Baptiste in the Quarter-Finals and will aim to make hay when the sun shines.
Receiving criticism for most of the year for playing a pretty light schedule especially given her lowly rank in the WTA, But as she admitted after defeating Peyton Stearns, she did so for a reason.
"I always knew there was a really long block in Asia at the end of the year and I didn't want to overdo myself in the first half of the year," Raducanu told WTA Insider during the summer. "If you look at the tournaments I played it was relatively light. I skipped quite a few weeks over the clay knowing that I'm at the stage where I'm not trying to win every event on the clay, on the grass and hard.
"I have to prioritize and Asia was one of those for me. So I stacked the year on the backend heavy, because I'm excited. I thrive in Asia. It's where I truly feel like home. So I'm buzzing for that trip even though it's at the end of the year. I'm looking forward to going out there and trying to take it."
Against Yue Yuan, it was a tricky test on paper. The Chinese ace albeit of course is usurped by the excellence of Qinwen Zheng is a player firmly on the rise and sits in the top 40. The first set was pretty nip and tuck before Raducanu turned it on in the second. It was back and forth holds after a few early breaks with Raducanu's pressure game seeing her break for 5-4.
She sealed the opening set from there. The second set saw an emphatic start from Raducanu as she ran away into a 3-0 lead and staved off break threat to go 4-2 up before breaking for 5-2. But she couldn't hold. It mattered not though as she broke back to seal it on the seventh match point.