Emma Raducanu’s hopes of a quick return to action following her recent ankle injury have been dashed as she will miss a second consecutive tournament.
The world No 54 picked up the injury during her encouraging run to the quarter-final of the Korea Open a fortnight ago and was eyeing a return to action at the Wuhan Open, but that won’t materialise.
Raducanu required treatment on her ankle during her last-16 match over Yuan Yue at the WTA 500 event in Seoul, but managed to beat the eighth seed in straight sets. She was clearly still in discomfort during her last-eight encounter against Daria Kasatkina and threw in the towel after losing the opening set 6-1.
The 21-year-old was then due to appear in this week’s WTA 1000 China Open, but confirmed the injury was more serious than initially thought, writing on social media: “Last week in Seoul I sprained some ligaments in my foot which unfortunately need some more time to heal. It means I can’t play in Beijing but I hope to be back competing as soon as i can ❤️”
But her plan to return “soon” has suffered a setback as she has now also withdrawn from qualifying for the Wuhan Open.
The British No 2 was due to play in her first qualifying event since the 2021 US Open as her ranking was not good enough for a direct entry into the main draw. The tournament is a 56-player singles draw event and only the top 44 players received direct entries.
Raducanu’s injury layoff means her hopes of returning to the top 50 of the WTA Rankings have been put on hold for the time being, but all is not lost if she is to achieve the goal before the end of the year.
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The 2021 US Open winner started Wimbledon at No 135 in the rankings, but broke through the top 100 barrier with her run to the fourth round of the grass-court Grand Slam and has made steady ever since.
She climbed to No 69 after reaching the quarter-final of the Citi Open in Washington D.C. at the beginning of August before her last-eight run in Korea saw her jump to No 54.
That top 50 goal can still be reached in the coming months as she has signed up for several tournaments, although that is dependent on her ankle.
Raducanu – who doesn’t have any points to defend until the end of the year – is on the entry lists for the Ningbo Open (October 14-20), Guangzhou Open (October 21-27) and the Hong Kong Open (October 28-November) and only a couple of wins will see her move up the rankings.
She is 20-13 for the 2024 season, having reached one semi-final and four quarter-finals.