Emma Raducanu is set for a significant rankings jump after a gutsy opening round win over Peyton Stearns at the Korea Open.
World No 70 Raducanu prevailed 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to seal her first victory since beating the American at the Washington Open, though little was straightforward in a match lasting two hours and 43 minutes.
The opening set saw both players struggle to build momentum – with eight breaks of serve between the two – but an impressive tiebreak saw Raducanu move in front.
Both she and Stearns then missed multiple break chances in set two, though it seemed the Brit would close out the match after breaking in the eighth game to serve for the match.
However, Raducanu was broken again trying to close out in the contest, and then she had to break when Stearns served for the set at 6-5.
The former US Open champion regained her composure in the tiebreak to eventually seal a place in round two in Seoul.
“I’m proud to have made it through to the next round,” said Raducanu. “Thank you to everyone for sticking around and watching us.
“It was tough. It was very humid, the balls were bouncing around a lot and I think it was a tough match to get through. I haven’t played many matches in the past few months and Peyton, she’s a really good player in really good form. I’m pretty pleased.
“I really love playing here in Seoul. I missed it last year but it’s one of the tournaments I really want to come back to and I actually think it gave me some fuel to fight in that match, just so I can play another match in front of you guys.”
It was far from a perfect performance from the 21-year-old, though she will reap a huge rankings reward from being able to close out the match at the end.
Raducanu is currently projected to fly up ten places to world No 60 in the WTA Live Rankings, potentially sealing a significant milestone in her comeback should results continue to fall her way.
She could hypothetically jump back inside the top 40 with a run to the title, though there are plenty of obstacles for her to overcome before that.
Up next for the Brit is eighth seed Yuan Yue, the current world No 40.
The Chinese came from a set down to defeat qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in her opening match in Seoul this week.
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