Emma Raducanu in action during the 2022 Korea Open (Twitter)
The British No. 1 Emma Raducanu faces a confident Magda Linette in the quarter-finals of the Korea Open on Friday.
The 19-year-old is on a comeback trail after a torrid past 12 months on the tour. The 2021 US Open champion crashed out in the first round of the 2022 edition of the tournament. Since then, Raducanu faced defeat in the Slovenia Open in the round of 16.
So far in the Korea Open, the Bromley-based Raducanu has been brilliant in the first sets in both of her matches. However, she has given her fans a scare in the second set on both occasions. In the first round, she faced Moyuka Uchijima. Raducanu dominated the first set and won 6-2. She got off to a great start and was cruising along at 5-0 at one point but Uchijima managed to come back into the match before Raducanu held serve to win 6-4. In the second round, Raducanu dominated from the get-go and bagged the first set 6-3 against Yanina Wickmayer. In the second set, she led 4-1 before the experienced Belgian drew level at 5-5. Eventually, Raducanu managed to win 6-3, 7-5.
The Polish veteran Magda Linette came into the Korea Open on the back of a strong showing at the recently-concluded Chennai Open. She made it to the final without dropping a set. The 30-year-old was the favorite to win her first WTA title since February 2020. However, Linda Fruhvirtova pulled off a huge upset win in the final.
Linette started her campaign in Korea with a solid win against Arianne Hartono. The former won the match 6-2, 7-5. In the second round, Linette came back from a set down to defeat Kristina Mladenovic 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
The head-to-head stands at 0-0 as this will be the first meeting between the two players.
Prediction: Emma Raducanu to win in three sets.
More Tennis news
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates