Emma Raducanu has progressed to the second round of the Korean Open after defeating Peyton Stearns in straight sets on Tuesday.
Raducanu, playing for the first time since her first-round defeat to Sofia Kenin at the US Open, came through a difficult contest against the American, who is ranked No. 48 in the world.
Both sets went to tie breaks and it was far from a straightforward affair for the British world No. 70, who was visibly exhausted at the end of the second set after a match that lasted two hours and 43 minutes.
Stearns and Raducanu both struggled to hold serve, each being broken six times, with the tie breaks hinging on some powerful baseline hitting from the 2021 US Open winner.
“I’m proud to have made it through to the next round. It was tough. It was very humid, the ball was bouncing around a lot,” Raducanu said after the win.
“It was a tough match to get through. I haven’t played many matches in the last few months and Peyton, she’s a really good player and on really good form. I’m really pleased.”
Raducanu didn’t qualify automatically for the tournament in Seoul but was handed a lifeline when Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Karolina Pliskova and Emma Navarro all withdrew from the competition.
She will now face Yue Yuan in the round of 16, a stern test given the Chinese player’s world ranking of No. 40.