Britain’s Emma Raducanu was forced off with a foot injury during her quarter-final match against Daria Kasatkina at the Korea Open.
An arduous, nearly three-hour opening win against Peyton Stearns in Seoul saw a slightly weathered Emma Raducanu just about eke through to the second round.
Clearly hampered by a foot injury in her following match against Chinese eighth seed Yuan Yue, Raducanu battled valiantly to reach her fifth quarter-final of the year and move up to 53rd in the WTA rankings.
Up against top seed Daria Kasatkina, an opponent the Brit has never beaten, Raducanu suffered a brutal 6-1 first set defeat before ultimately retiring before the second got underway.
With surgeries on both wrists and her ankle last year, the 2021 US Open champion is now facing another stint on the sidelines.
Emma Raducanu pulls out of the Beijing Open with no clear return date
With the quarter-final coming to a premature end, Kasatkina sent Raducanu a classy message saying she felt truly sorry for her opponent.
Raducanu deliberately chose a busy schedule after having faced criticism for choosing not to play the qualifying rounds at the two big US Open warm-up events, in Toronto and Cincinnati.
However, in a statement released today on X, the Brit’s plans look to have come completely undone.
“Hello, last week in Seoul I sprained some ligaments in my foot which unfortunately need some more time to heal,” Raducanu explained. “It means I can’t play in Beijing but I hope to be back competing as soon as I can.”
The Brit joins Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina as another high-profile player to pull out of Beijing.
Emma Raducanu simply can’t catch a break
With Raducanu set to represent Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup finals in November, this latest injury paves the way for the less experienced new British WTA top 100 entrant Sonay Kartal.
Raducanu has been no stranger to controversial career choices, yet has also been dealt a brutal hand injury-wise – something out of her control.
The 21-year-old’s fairytale in New York has been followed exclusively by challenges. A number of coaching changes have also likely contributed to a frustrating few years on tour.
The emphasis after her comeback was always on game-time rather than results. Ironically however, a relative lack of game-time has still seen Raducanu emerge with some impressive results.
A maiden top 10 win on the grass in June was promptly followed by a Wimbledon run where she knocked out two seeds.
While she is still searching for a US Open victory since her title-winning run three years ago, yet another injury will require the Brit to dig out some more resilience.
Once again, just as Raducanu builds momentum, an injury immediately gets in the way.
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