Emma Raducanu overcame the frustration of lengthy weather-related delays to beat Jaqueline Cristian in the opening round of the Korea Open.
The contest had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed because of rain, and more wet weather then caused another substantial delay on Wednesday. But Raducanu and Cristian were finally able to take to the court and it was the British No 1 who came out on top 6-3, 6-4 after a tussle lasting two hours and two minutes.
Raducanu controversially chose to pull out of Great Britain’s team for this week’s Billie Jean King Cup finals in favour of taking a wildcard in Seoul as she strives to boost her ranking over the final weeks of the season. Speaking in Shenzhen before Britain’s match with Japan on Thursday, the GB captain, Anne Keothavong, described Raducanu’s absence as “disappointing”, but the 22-year-old will feel her decision has paid off if she can have a strong week.
In her first match since a one-sided loss to Elena Rybakina in the third round of the US Open, Raducanu had to show her fighting spirit to see off Cristian, who is ranked eight places lower at 41.
The first-set score did not tell the full story, with the nine games taking 70 minutes and Raducanu saving 11 of 12 break points, battling back from 3-1 down with a run of five games in a row.
Cristian hit substantially more winners but Raducanu, who served six double faults, again dug in during the second set. She twice fought back from a break down to eventually clinch victory and set up a second-round clash with the former Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
“Super happy to have won today,” said Raducanu in her on-court interview. “It hasn’t been easy, I feel like I’ve played this match the last three days. To have pulled through after waiting, I’m super pleased with how I came through. Jaqueline is a really tough opponent and had great results recently. Tough conditions, very slow, long rallies, long points, so happy to have gotten through.”
It was a disappointing day for Cameron Norrie, who suffered a shock 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2) loss against the 304th-ranked Chinese wildcard Zhou Yi at the Chengdu Open, with the 20-year-old saving a match point.
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