Emma Raducanu claims her big rankings goal – can she cling on to it?

Kevin Palmer 17 Sep 2025 8:23 PM

Emma Raducanu fistpumps during a match.

Emma Raducanu was not at her best as she battled through to the second round at the Korea Open in Seoul, but the victory propelled her to one of her big goals in what is left of the 2025 tennis season.

British No 1 Raducanu overcame the frustration of lengthy weather-related delays to beat Jaqueline Cristian in the opening round of the Korea Open.

Raducanu and Romanian Cristian were finally able to take to the court after lengthy delays due to rain and it was the 2021 US Open champion who battled to a 6-3, 6-4 win a battle that last two hours and two minutes.

“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.”

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The win against Cristian went some way to justifying Raducanu’s decision to pull out of Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup team, who are playing in the finals of that competition in Shenzen this week.

Raducanu would have been comfortably her nation’s highest ranked players in the Billie jean King Cup finals, but she prioritised ranking points over national duty for her nation.

The win fired Raducanu up to No 32 in the live WTA Rankings and if she held on to that position through to the Australian Open in January, it would be enough to secure her a seeded berth at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 2026.

That is a stated aim of Raducanu for the final weeks of 2025 and it explains why she is playing in Seoul this week rather than the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

Meanwhile, Great Britain BJK captain Anne Keothavong has made her first public comments on Raducanu’s decision to withdraw from her team, as she didn’t try to hide her disappointment at the move.

“It’s obviously disappointing, but I do want the main focus to be on the players I have and the challenge we have ahead,” Keothavong said.

“I believe in the players that I’ve got. How the team were able to perform in April to get us into this position was fantastic, and I see no reason why we can’t do the same.

“Players will make decisions they feel is in their best interest, but my focus is just on this team.

“We take a huge amount of pride in this competition and we do want to be world champions.”

“I think we’ve got a real shot at winning it. We have reached the semi-finals twice in the past few years and come close to going further.”