Raducanu reaches first WTA semi-final since 2021 US Open triumph

Reaching your first WTA Tour-level semi-final should be a major landmark in the career of any professional tennis player. However, that may not be the case when you have already won a Grand Slam singles title.

That’s the scenario that Emma Raducanu finds herself in this week as the British teenager reached the last four of the WTA Korea Open in Seoul on Friday with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over third seed Magda Linette, a finalist at the Chennai Open last week.

Raducanu back in top 70 after three straight wins in Seoul

Now ranked 77th after her US Open title defence ended in the first round, Raducanu had been to three WTA Tour quarter-finals since her stunning US Open win as a qualifier ranked 150th in the world but had lost each time.

The Brit, who will move back into the world’s top 70 with her semi-final run this week and could climb further based on her next matches, has scored three wins in a tournament for the first time since that US Open title. She had defeated Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima (6-2, 6-4) and Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer (6-3, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Raducanu will play the winner of the match between Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the top seed, and Andorran lucky loser Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva next.

Seoul WTA 250, other quarter-final matches (Seoul Olympic Park)

• Tatjana Maria (7) beat Lin Zhu (4): 6-1, 6-1
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (2) beat Lulu Sun (Q): 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva

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