Emma Raducanu of Great Britain has been eliminated from the Korea Open after suffering an injury during her semi-final matchup with top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko. During the second set, the 19-year-old needed a medical break due to pain in her left glute.
She continued as Ostapenko won the second set, but at 4-6 6-3 3-0, she gave up the match to the Latvian. Ostapenko will compete against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the second seed from Russia, who defeated Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-2, 6-4.
After winning the US Open in 2021, British number one Raducanu has struggled with a number of ailments and had to end several matches in the middle of them. She was competing in her first semi-final in a regular WTA Tour event.
After a tense first service game in which the ex French Open winner broke her, Raducanu found her calm to break again right away, claim a pivotal break at 4-4, and serve out the set.
However, Ostapenko grabbed control of the match when Raducanu returned to the court while still grunting in discomfort. Ostapenko had moved ahead in the second session prior to Raducanu’s off-court medical stoppage.
The 25-year-old won the second set 6-3 and was up 3-0 in the third when Raducanu retired. For the first time since winning the US Open last year, Raducanu won three matches in a row after defeating third-seeded Polish player Magda Linette in the quarterfinals.
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