Emma Raducanu’s injury problems struck again as she retired from her Korea Open quarter-final against top seed Daria Kasatkina. The 21-year-old Briton had just lost the first set 6-1 when she withdrew having struggled with a foot issue.
Raducanu had previously beaten two top-50 players in Seoul en route to the last eight; the American Peyton Stearns and China’s Yue Yuan. Looking to make only her second ever WTA Tour semi-final, having also reached the last four in Nottingham in June, the 2021 US Open champion initially saw her match against the world No 13 Kasatkina rained off on Friday.
When the contest finally got under way on Saturday, Raducanu – who spoke earlier this week of wanting to play as many matches as possible before the end of the season – was broken by her Russian opponent in the second game.
She immediately broke back, but was unable to build on that and, after Kasatkina had wrapped up the set, Raducanu went over and shook her hand having decided that she could no longer continue due to a problem with her left foot.
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