Emma Raducanu is looking to return to form this week at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Raducanu reached her first final since winning the US Open just over a week ago at the Transylvania Open, where she was beaten by Sorana Cirstea.
The Briton was clearly hampered by illness in this final, which caused Raducanu to retire from her match at the Qatar Open just two days later.
Raducanu will be hoping this illness is now behind her ahead of the Dubai Tennis Championships, but she will not be playing the opponent she was originally supposed to.
Emma Raducanu has new opponent after Elisabetta Cocciaretto withdraws
Raducanu had been drawn against a qualifier in her first round match in Dubai, which appeared to be a generous draw until the opponent was revealed.
That opponent was the in-form Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who beat Coco Gauff en route to reaching the Qatar Open quarterfinals just last week.
Despite winning an additional two matches in Dubai qualifying, Cocciaretto has made a late withdrawal from the WTA 1000 tournament due to a right thigh injury.
There have already been a number of late withdrawals from the Dubai Tennis Championships this year, including Qinwen Zheng pulling out of the tournament, and therefore Raducanu will now face a player who actually lost in the first round of qualifying.
That player is Croatian Antonia Ruzic, whom Raducanu has never played on the WTA Tour before.
This is not the only lifeline for Raducanu, who was also set to play Qatar Open champion Karolina Muchova in her second round match in Dubai before she withdrew due to fatigue.
Raducanu now has a lucky loser and either a qualifier or another lucky loser standing in her way ahead of a potential third round meeting in Dubai with top seed Elena Rybakina.
How many ranking points is Emma Raducanu defending in Dubai?
This year will be just Raducanu’s second appearance at the Dubai Tennis Championships, and she now has an opportunity to boost her ranking.
Raducanu is currently at her best ranking since 2022 of world number 25, and she could take it even further this week.
After losing in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships to the aforementioned Muchova last year, Raducanu knows that if she reaches the third round as now expected she will gain 55 ranking points.
However, this would not actually take Raducanu up any places in the rankings, but she would be closing in on 24th placed Zheng.
Raducanu will hope that she is back feeling at her best when she plays her first round match in Dubai against Ruzic on Monday, February 16.
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