SEOUL: Emma Radu­canu got her Korea Open campaign off to a winning start with a hard-fought 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7-5) victory over American Peyton Stearns on Tuesday.

Britain’s Raducanu is looking to make an impact in Seoul after a string of last-minute withdrawals, including world number one Iga Swiatek, US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula and former Wimbledon cham­pion Elena Ryba­kina.

Raducanu had to dig deep to beat her 48th-ranked opponent in steamy conditions in a match that lasted 2hr 43min.

“I’m proud to have made it through to the next round,” said the 21-ye­ar-old Raducanu, who is unseeded. Thank you to everyone for sticking around and watching us. It was tough, it was very humid.”

Raducanu’s next opponent will be China’s Yue Yuan, the eighth seed.

Raducanu stormed into a 4-1 first-set lead but let her opponent come back before edging her in the tiebreak. Raducanu struggled to shake off Stearns in the second set and could not finish the job when serving for the match at 5-3.

She had to battle some more to take the second set to a tiebreak but then rode a late surge of momentum to clinch the match in straight sets.

American Hailey Baptiste joined her in the second round after beating compatriot and former US Open champion Sloane Stephens 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Yulia Putin­tseva of Kazakhstan was knocked out after a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) loss to American Ama­nda Anisimova.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2024