Emma Raducanu forced to play waiting game as Korea Open rankings push disrupted
Emma Raducanu faces an extended wait for her rankings push at the Korea Open with her quarter-final encounter cancelled due to poor weather.
Former US Open champion Raducanu was set to face top seed Daria Kasatkina in a crunch clash on Friday afternoon, in arguably the pick of the last eight matches in Seoul.
However, all matches at the WTA 500 event were called off due to persistent rain in the Korean capital, meaning there will be no action until Saturday.
Raducanu and Kasatkina – who beat the Brit at the Eastbourne International during the summer – are now set to be the second match on Centre Court tomorrow, starting around 14:00 local time.
Their clash will follow on from a contest between Polina Kudermetova and third seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, with the remaining two quarter-finals moved to Grandstand.
Viktoriya Tomova is set to face Veronika Kudermetova at around 12:00 local time, before a clash between fourth seed Diana Shnaider and fifth seed Marta Kostyuk.
The two semi-final clashes are then set to take place later in the day, though there could well be a significant stumbling block within the revised plan.
Conditions also do not look promising in Seoul on Saturday, with heavy rain forecast until the late afternoon.
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Emma Raducanu may be fearing the worst as she closes in on a rankings breakthrough
The evening looks clear and Sunday – and the early days of next week – look set to provide perfect conditions to play, though the tournament could well be left scrambling to complete action.
And, with a WTA 1000 event – the China Open – starting next week, it is likely players will want or need to head to Beijing as quickly as possible.
Prior to her clash against Kasatkina, Raducanu has already sealed a significant rankings boost from the tournament in Seoul, where she reached the last four in 2022.
The Brit battled past Peyton Stearns in an epic opening-round clash, before a much more convincing win over eighth seed Yuan Yue in round two on Thursday.
Those two victories have sent the world No 70 up to 54th in the WTA Live Rankings, and a victory versus Kasatkina could help cement a top-50 return.
However, with fellow quarter-finalist Tomova currently 51st in the Live Rankings and also chasing the rankings milestone, Raducanu would need to win and hope the Bulgarian loses to ensure that breakthrough.
The winner of the Brit’s match versus Kasatkina faces one of Kostyuk or Shnaider in the semi-final.
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