Emma Raducanu defeated No. 8 seed Yuan Yue in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of the Korea Open. The 21-year-old needed seven match points to win a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 victory over the No. 8 seed.
Raducanu led after a close first set and led strongly at the start of the second, holding off a Yuan fightback and serving eight aces in the second set.
Raducanu had defeated American Peyton Stearns in the previous round and came into the match against Ewan in a very close contest early on.
The momentum shifted when Raducanu tied the score at 4-4 with a powerful forehand and then broke Yuan's serve in the next game to take the lead.
After taking a medical timeout, the Briton finished the set on serve and promptly picked up where she left off to dominate the second set, breaking Yuan's serve in the first game and stretching her lead with two aces in the second. She won six straight games in the match to lead 3-0, but was broken in the fourth game as Yuan clawed one back and the Chinese player tried to apply pressure.
Ewan appeared to be starting to find his rhythm but Raducanu fought back to hold serve and further extend his lead in a tight sixth game. The eighth game went to deuce seven times and Raducanu missed five match points, but Ewan eventually held serve, but the Briton won the next game to thwart any chance of a late comeback.
Afterwards, Raducanu said: “I think the key to my success today was trying to put aside the frustration that happened. I had a lot of match points at the end of the match but I couldn't capitalise on them. So I stayed focused and broke in the last game.”
