Emma Raducanu will have to beat two Wimbledon champions, including the reigning Iga Swiatek, if she is just to progress to the Korea Open semi-finals. The Brit, who took a wildcard to enter the event, faces Romanian star Jaqueline Cristian in the first round.
Should Raducanu, who has skipped Team GB duties at the Billie Jean King Cup to compete in Asia, get past Cristian. She will be met in the second round by Barbora Krejcikova, who was the winner in SW19 last year and is also a French Open champion.
The British No. 1 is projected to face Swiatek in the quarter-finals, having been paired in the top half with the Polish star, who has been given a bye in the first round as the top seed.
Swiatek joins the rest of the top four seeds, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Clara Tauson and Daria Kasatkina in the second round.
Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw alongside Raducanu, Swiatek and Krejcikova, are tough opponents Sofia Kenin, Maya Joint, Eva Lys and Ashlyn Kreuger.
Their match on Monday will be Raducanu’s first-ever against Cristian, who recently reached the third round of the US Open before losing to tournament runner-up Amanda Anisimova in three sets. She had already beaten Americans Danielle Collins and Krueger.
Raducanu has retired on both of her visits to the Seoul tournament through injury. Last year she reached the quarter-finals but had to leave the court after the first set, received treatment on her foot, and never returned against Kasatkina.
The 22-year-old reached the semi-finals in 2022 but a left glute issue forced her to retire in the deciding set against Jelena Ostapenko.
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