With the seventh match point, Raducanu stops Yuan and reaches the quarterfinals in Seoul

Emma Raducanu secured her place in her fifth quarterfinal of 2024 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over eighth seed Yuan Yue at the Hana Bank Korea Open in 2 hours and 4 minutes.

In a thrilling finale, Yuan fended off five match points in the penultimate game of the match before breaking Raducanu to stay in the match. However, the former US Open champion sealed the victory with a return in the following game, converting her seventh match point.

Seoul: Results | Match progress | Draw

Raducanu has entered the final months of the season with ambitions to “shine in Asia” and she continued to do just that in Seoul after defeating 2023 runner-up Yuan. The Brit will next face No. 1 seed Daria Kasatkina, who beat Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 6-2. Kasatkina produced a series of superb defensive moves to defeat the American, as well as a brilliant slice winner in the final game of the match.

In direct comparison, Kasatkina is 2-0 ahead of Raducanu, including a 6-2, 6-2 win in the quarter-finals in Eastbourne three months ago.

“I think these courts suit her because they bounce quite a lot,” Raducanu said. “But for me, it's invaluable every time I face a top opponent like that. It gives me confidence. It's a match where I really have nothing to lose.”

Tactical Rewards: Raducanu approached the match with a clear strategy from the start. Longer baseline exchanges favored Yuan, whose ability to generate pace with her forehand was astonishing at times. However, Raducanu was able to maintain the upper hand by relentlessly attacking the Chinese player's second serve, especially with her backhand.

A series of clean return winners and double hits from that wing followed, and the tactic proved particularly useful in ending the close first set and building on that momentum at the start of the second set. Yuan landed just 55% of her first serves and won just 36% of her second serve points.

On the return, Raducanu was able to underline her strength with strong serves and landed a total of 11 aces, in addition to the 10 she hit in the first round against Peyton Stearns.

Service optimizations: Raducanu then said that she and her team had improved their serve.

“If you watch my serve over the last few months, you'll notice it's gone through a lot of changes in terms of swing since the clay court season,” she said. “Generally when you play a lot of tournaments, things get out of whack without you really noticing and then it's harder to get that natural feel back. We've been working hard over the last week to study the swing and figure out what swing suits me best. It's been pretty big changes, it's not like we're just changing ball placement.

“My coach and I decided to take a risk and tweak things. We know that it might not pay off in the short term. But I trust that I'll get the hang of things pretty quickly. It didn't work out in the first game, but it definitely did today. I just have to keep the bigger picture in mind. My goals are to finish this season strong, but of course also to be in the best possible position for next year, because next year I really want to hit the ground running.”

Stay focused: The penultimate game of the match, a tug-of-war with seven deuces, kept the Seoul crowd on tenterhooks. At 5:2 and 40:15, Raducanu seemed to be able to win the match – but she missed her first two match points with cheap backhand errors. Yuan sensed an opportunity, started hitting the ball with renewed power and precision and finally managed a clean return winner that earned her her fourth break point.

However, Raducanu was able to shake off the drama and easily managed a break of Yuan to 15 in the next game.

“I was a little nervous in the second set,” she said afterwards. “I haven't been in that situation very often. I just had to remind myself that I had won a set and was 5-3 up. I was ready to break, I had been putting pressure on her service games the whole time.”

Haddad Maia and Tomova reach the quarterfinals: Elsewhere, a clash of former Seoul finalists saw third seed and 2017 runner-up Beatriz Haddad Maia defeat 2018 runner-up Ajla Tomljanovic. The Brazilian had to fend off a late attack from Tomljanovic in the third set after already trailing 5-1 and will next face lucky loser Polina Kudermetova.

Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova reached her fifth Tour quarterfinal of 2024 after Amanda Anisimova was forced to retire from 7-5, 4-1 down due to heat illness. Tomova will try to reach her second WTA 500 semifinal of the year against Veronika Kudermetova.