Emma Raducanu battled through tears to beat Jaqueline Cristian and book her place in the second round of the Korea Open. It was not all plain sailing for the Brit, who showed flashes of brilliance but struggled to reach her best level for large parts of the contest. However, she did enough to win in straight sets with a 6-3 6-4 triumph over her Romanian rival.
It came after Raducanu withdrew from the British squad for the Billie Jean King Cup, instead going in search of crucial ranking points in Seoul. The match was supposed to take place on Tuesday but heavy rainfall meant that play was cancelled for the evening. Another deluge on Wednesday saw the fixture delayed again but it eventually began once the standing water had been cleared from the court.
Raducanu made a sluggish start, opening with a double fault and handing Cristian an opportunity to break in the very first game. However, the young Brit went on to draw first blood in the match with an excellent hold, saving four break points in the process.
Another lengthy deuce followed in game two but it was Cristian who prevailed with a crisp forehand towards the baseline. She went on to break Raducanu at the next opportunity to secure a crucial advantage in the opening set.
The unseeded Belgian extended her lead in the fourth game with a routine hold before Raducanu ended her barren spell to reduce the deficit. She broke back in game six, prevailing after deuce to level the scores at three each.
At that point, Raducanu appeared to be fighting tears as she wiped her eyes between points. She went on to regain her lead before piling on the pressure with another break and winning a routine service game to close out the set.
The one-time US Open champion made 67 per cent of her first serves in the opening set and had fewer unforced errors than Cristian, who responded brilliantly by winning the first couple of games in set two.
Raducanu broke back in game three but Cristian was quick to restore her two-game deficit with another break of serve. A third successive break followed as Raducanu kept the pressure on to maintain her hopes of a straight-sets victory.
She levelled up with a standard hold, but the standards slipped again in the next game as Cristian edged ahead. In a set full of breaks, Raducanu struck again at the next opportunity and won the best rally of the match.
Another one arrived in the ninth game of the second set, putting Raducanu on the verge of victory. Cristian threatened yet another break in the final game, but Raducanu held firm to put the contest to bed on her first match point.
Speaking afterwards, she said: “Super happy to have won today. It hasn’t been easy. To have pulled through after waiting, I’m pleased with the way I came through. Tough conditions, very slow rallies and long points, so happy to have got through it.
“A big thank you to everyone who came out here and supported through the rain. Thank you to everyone.”
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