By TennisUpToDate.com

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Emma Raducanu went through the mill on multiple occasions whether before her tie against Jaqueline Cristian or during her 6-4, 6-3 win on Wednesday at the Korea Open.

Raducanu was all set to play yesterday in Seoul but the weather had other ideas with the tie delayed until Wednesday likely leaving her to play multiple times in the coming days after losing a day. But she was also in tears during the tie at 3-3 as she was serving as she looked to be really struggling.

Albeit this scene was also a bit bizarre as she was at 3-3 at that point and then won the next three games to scoop the set anyway and was rampant after that so it seems a bit of adversity in her direction actually worked to fuel the fire over quell it. She decided this week not to play the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. A decision which in reality was done based off a need to claim ranking points over playing in a tournament which by design is only there to service playing for your country.

At a juncture of the season where Raducanu was due to have an Asian homecoming visiting China in the coming weeks and was set to have that last year before injury took her out, it is very much making up for lost time and she will hope to do that this week. Over playing for her country which she has often excelled in but in reality provides a distraction to the main tour action.

It was an excellent hold to start after she had started the tie with a double fault. She finally found the service box on her fourth attempt but Cristian went 40-15 up and was on the cusp of a break. She took the opening game and excelled from there. Raducanu reached the Quarter-Finals this year also part of her decision due to needing to defend points and she went 2-1 down with Raducanu’s service motion doing all sorts of damage but not in a good way as the Romanian began to pick it apart.

She made it four points without reply as Raducanu sent a wild forehand out of the court. A first Cristian double fault gave Raducanu a lifeline but another loose ground stroke saw Cristian head towards the game as she went 3-1 up. But amid the tears at 3-3, unforced errors started to creep in as Cristian made her 16th of the match to give an early advantage and one that she dispatched as Cristian handed her a second break point opportunity that she duly took after another unforced error.

Suddenly at 3-3 and Raducanu was getting further emotional amid struggles on her serve but she got through it and Raducanu managed to grow in confidence. She broke again after more double faults to make it 5-3. Cristian refused to let it go without a fight but Raducanu served it out for 6-3.

Cristian then broke in the second set with Raducanu’s serve continuing to look suspect and was being picked apart again. Albeit the 22-year-old went on the offensive and took a break back immediately only for Cristian to do the same. There began a war of attrition with four straight breaks for 3-2.