🔗 Share this article

The young British talent overcame annoying weather-related delays to defeat Jaqueline Cristian in her first match of the Hana Bank Korea Open.

Their match was originally set for Tuesday but got delayed because of rain, and additional poor conditions caused another lengthy interruption on Wednesday. Finally, the two competitors took to the court and it was the top-ranked UK player who emerged victorious 6-3, 6-4 after a contest that went on for two hours and two minutes.

Raducanu controversially chose to pull out of the national squad for this week’s Billie Jean King Cup showdown to instead accept a wildcard in the Korean capital as she aims to boost her WTA position over the final weeks. Speaking before Britain’s match with Japan, the GB captain described Raducanu’s decision not to participate as “disappointing”, but Raducanu will consider her decision has been justified if she can have a successful tournament run.

In her initial outing since a one-sided loss to the Kazakh star in the third round of the New York major, Raducanu had to show her fighting spirit to overcome Cristian, who is ranked just below her at 41st in the world.

The opening set result did not tell the complete picture, with the nine games lasting 70 minutes and Raducanu saving the majority of break points, battling back from an early deficit with a run of consecutive points in a row.

Cristian hit substantially more winners but Raducanu, who committed six double faults, again dug in during the following set. She twice fought back from a disadvantage to secure victory and earn a next match with ex-grand slam winner Barbora Krejcikova.

“Super happy to have won today,” said Raducanu after the match. “It hasn’t been easy, I feel like I’ve played this match the last three days. To come out on top after waiting, I’m super pleased with how I performed. Jaqueline is a really tough opponent and had strong performances recently. Difficult circumstances, very heavy court, extended exchanges, drawn-out games, so glad to have advanced.”

Meanwhile, it proved a tough outing for the British men’s player, who suffered a shock loss against the 304th-ranked Chinese invited player Zhou Yi at the Chinese tournament, with the 20-year-old denying a match point.