Emma Raducanu suffered a massive collapse at the Korea Open, as she blew three match points in a battle of the Grand Slam champions against Barbora Krejcikova. The British No. 1 decided not to represent country at the BJK Cup Finals this week, pulling out of the team to take a wildcard into Seoul so she could focus on building her ranking.
But her decision backfired, as Britain won their quarter-final tie, while Raducanu bowed out in the second round of the Korea Open – her worst career result at this tournament. The No. 8 seed led by a set and 5-2 before former Wimbledon champion Krejcikova stormed back to win 4-6 7-6(10) 6-1.
Former world No. 2 Krejcikova came into the match full of form, having reached the quarter-final of the recent US Open. They traded breaks early on, and Raducanu was constantly under pressure on her serve, being made to save more break points as the set went on.
But she finally gave herself an opportunity as Krejcikova served to stay in the set at 4-5. And the Czech star hit a costly double fault to hand Raducanu a close first set after 53 minutes.
Raducanu was back under pressure early in the second set and got broken in the opening game, but the errors kept on coming for Krejcikova, who was immediately broken to love.
Things went from bad to worse for 2024 Wimbledon champion Krejcikova, who struggled to land her serves in the box and hit more double faults to get broken again. The Brit reeled off four straight gets before Krejcikova finally got back on the board.
Serving for a spot in the last eight, Raducanu started strong with her third ace of the day. Facing a match point, Krejcikova nailed a forehand winner into the corner to keep herself alive.
Two more winners gave the world No. 39 a lifeline as she broke to keep herself in the match. Krejcikova roared as she held to 30 to level the score at 5-5. Raducanu was feeling the pressure – she threw in her first double fault of the match, but she still held on to pull ahead.
Krejcikova forced a tiebreak, where Raducanu expertly saved a set point with another ace. The Brit finally brought up her second match point but she couldn’t get it done, struggling to return one of the former Wimbledon champion’s forehands.
Raducanu saved a second set point, and then failed to convert her third match point in similar fashion. The Brit hit another double fault at the worst time, giving Krejcikova another set point – this time on her own serve. She took it, nailing another forehand that Raducanu couldn’t get back into play.
The eighth seed failed to convert two break points early in the third set, and she started to run out of gas. Krejcikova broke to lead 3-1 and then held to love, inching closer to the quarter-finals.
Krejcikova only grew into the match, rushing to the net and showing off her volleying skills as she continued to make headway on the Raducanu serve. Facing another break point, the British No. 1 sent a backhand wide to give her opponent another break. And the former French Open and Wimbledon champion got the job done on her first match point, reaching the quarter-finals.
“Definitely a difficult, difficult match. I was very down, I don’t really know how I turned it around. Just happy to be through and happy to be tough in my head,” she told the crowd.
Raducanu is now set to lose some ranking points, having reached the quarter-finals here 12 months ago. The Brit thrives at the Korea Open, and made it to the semis here in 2022, but this is her worst result at the WTA 500 tournament.
Meanwhile, it was another escape act for Krejcikova. At the US Open, she saved eight match points against Taylor Townsend and won another marathon tiebreak in the second set, going on to seal a 1-6 7-6 (13) 6-3 victory.
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