World No 1 Iga Swiatek has become the latest top-ranked player to withdraw from the Korea Open, but there is good news for Emma Raducanu following the spate of withdrawals from the hard-court tournament.
Five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek was set to be the top seed at the WTA 500 event, but she pulled out due to fatigue with her decision not coming as a major surprise following her recent comments about the hectic tennis schedule.
The Pole had admitted that the dense calendar had taken its toll as she revealed she was mentally and physically exhausted after playing an extended clay-court swing followed by Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics and the North American hard-court campaign.
Following her quarter-final exit at the hands of Jessica Pegula at the US Open, Swiatek stated of the tennis calendar: “It’s tough. It could be a little bit easier, but I’m keeping up with the schedule. I’m only talking about mandatory tournaments and there are rules about mandatory tournaments.
“But I’m ready for playing till November, I guess, unless I’m going to get injured.”
However, she has now joined the long list of players who have pulled out of the Korea Open, which gets underway on September 16.
Defending champion Jessica Pegula, US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro, world No 4 Elena Rybakina, British No 1 Katie Boulter and former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova have also opted out for various reasons.
Those players are expected to be back in action at the WTA 1000 China Open, which runs from September 25 to October 6.
Those withdrawals, though, have meant several lower-ranked players have been pushed into the main draw with 2021 US Open champion Raducanu being one of them.
Raducanu was initially handed a wildcard entry for the tournament, but has now moved directly into the main draw as she was one of the alternates with her ranking of 72.
With no points to defend, the British No 3 has a glorious opportunity to move further up the rankings if she gets a few wins under her belt.
World No 13 Daria Kasatkina will now be the top seed with Liudmila Samsonova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Diana Shnaider and Marta Kostyuk completing the top five.
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