Emma Raducanu beats Jaqueline Cristian to reach second round of Korea Open

Emma Raducanu battled past Jaqueline Cristian in straight sets to reach the second round of the Korea Open on Wednesday. 

The British No 1 beat her Romanian opponent 6-3 6-4 to set up a last 16 meeting with 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková.

Raducanu accepted a wildcard entry into the Korea Open in Seoul while pulling out of Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup challenge two weeks before the team was due to travel to Shenzhen.

It marks her first outing since losing 6-1 6-2 to Elena Rybakina in the third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

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"I'm super happy to have won today," Raducanu said in her on-court interview.

"It hasn't been easy, I feel like I've played this match the last three days so to pull through after waiting I'm super pleased with how I came through.

"She's a really tough opponent, tough conditions, very slow rallies and long points so happy to have gone through."

The tone was set early for a gruelling exchange as Raducanu had to save four break points to hold in the opening game of the match.

It was then Cristian who clinched the early advantage when she finally converted her fourth break point of the game and eighth of the match to seal a 2-1 lead.

Raducanu successfully swerved the double break before converting her second break point of the match to level the score in the next game.

Momentum had now swung in favour of the Brit, who built a 5-3 lead thanks to two double-faults in the game from Cristian, paving the way for Raducanu to serve out for the set.

Cristian responded positively to go 2-0 up after converting a 15th break point of the match, with the pair exchanging four successive breaks of serve to to leave Raducanu trailing 2-3.

Raducanu restored order with a hold to level up the match at 3-3, before breaking for 5-4 to leave herself serving for the match.

Still, Cristian refused to go quietly and threatened a deciding third set when she built a 0-30 lead against the serve, only for Raducanu to fight back while saving a break point to seal the win.

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