WTA Singapore draw: Emma Raducanu handed favourable path as she restarts season without Nick Cavaday

Shahida Jacobs
Pictured: Emma Raducanu and Anna Kalinskaya
Emma Raducanu with Anna Kalinskaya inset

Emma Raducanu has been handed a glorious chance to earn some decent ranking points at the Singapore Tennis Open.

Currently at No 61 in the WTA Rankings, Raducanu is seeded seventh at the WTA 250 tournament and has landed in the top half of the indoor hard-court event.

The 22-year-old, though, is set to move up to No 56 after reaching the third round of the Australian Open with the rankings only updated on the Monday after the season-opening Grand Slam.

Raducanu, though, will have to navigate the Singapore tournament without her Nick Cavaday as he stepped away from coaching to “prioritise getting back to full health”.

She is also coming off a “harsh” defeat to Iga Swiatek at Melbourne Park as she was beaten 6-1, 6-0 in 70 minutes.

“The scoreline was obviously quite harsh,” Raducanu said after the match. “I’m very clear on what happened out there. If I’m not necessarily able to hold my service games or dictate, I feel like it seeps into the rest of my game.

“On my second serves, how the point is structured from then on, and in the return games, you feel a lot more pressure.”

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But she does have an opportunity to get gain some confidence and climb higher in the rankings after the Singapore event as she has received an enticing draw.

First up is world No 110 Cristina Bucsa from Spain in what will be their first-ever career meeting. If she gets through that encounter she will face a yet-to-confirmed qualifier in the second round before the draw gets tougher.

A run to the quarter-final is worth 54 points at WTA 250 events and that could push her to the bring of a return to inside the top 50.

World No 15 Anna Kalinskaya is the top seed and she is projected to meet Raducanu in the last eight. The Russian, though, has struggled with health issues in recent weeks as she missed the Australian Open due to a virus.

Kalinskaya starts off against Caroline Dolehide before a potential meeting with Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round and possibly Raducanu in the quarters.

Third seed Amanda Anisimova, who lose in the second round at Melbourne Park against Raducanu, headlines the bottom section of the top half and she faces Xiy Wang in the first round with fifth seed Polina Kudermetova a projected quarter-finalist.

The winner will most likely face either Kalinskaya or Raducanu in the semi-final.

World No 34 Elise Mertens is the top-ranked player in the bottom half and she takes on Taylor Townsend in the first round with sixth seed Camila Osorio a projected quarter-finalist and fourth seed Xin Wang and eighth seed Moyuka Uchijima.