BBC Online :
Britain’s Emma Raducanu defeated Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 7-5 to progress to the Korea Open last eight in Seoul.
Raducanu, ranked 77th in the world, broke Wickmayer’s serve three times in a row at the end of the first set to seal the opener.
A cagey second set ended with Raducanu breaking once more, after being taken to deuce in the previous game.
The 19-year-old will play Poland’s world number 51 Magda Linette next.
Victory over Linette would be the first time Raducanu has won three matches in a single tournament since her extraordinary run to the US Open title in September 2021.
World number 460 Wickmayer, who was ranked as high as 12th in the world before taking a break for the birth of her first child in 2021, grew into the match and threatened to take the contest to a decider.
But Raducanu, who has been working with Russian coach Dmitry Tursunov since July, kept her composure and consistency to see out the win.
The 24-year-old was due to play Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round.
“This has and always will be a special tournament for me and I wish I could have stepped on court today, but my body won’t let me,” she said.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, who has slipped to 48th in the world, had won only one of her previous seven matches before arriving in her native Japan. Her first-round victory over Daria Saville came after the Australian tore knee ligaments in their match on Tuesday.
