Emma Raducanu snuck into the Seoul main draw as a seed after a couple of player withdrawals, but she could still stumble upon two big names early in the tournament.
Raducanu, the eighth seed at the Korea Open, will launch her Seoul campaign by taking on world No. 43 Jaqueline Cristian for the first time in her career. If there are no surprises and the British tennis player wins her opening match, she will likely battle against 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the round-of-16.
Should Raducanu make her third Seoul quarterfinal, the Korea Open spectators will very likely have a chance to watch the 2021 US Open champion take on No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek - the Pole has a first-round bye and will have to win only one match to reach the last-eight stage.
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If the 34th-ranked Briton manages to make the latter stages of the tournament, she could meet No. 3 seed Clara Tauson in the semifinal and second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final.
If Raducanu meets Swiatek in Seoul, she will get what she wants
Raducanu, who is now working with Rafael Nadal's former long-time coach Francisco Roig, said at the US Open that her goal is to improve as a player and regularly challenge the top players of the game.
"Playing these top opponents, you get a feel for it every time. Its difficult. Right now Im just working on developing and building my game... I need to play these top girls and I think a win against one of them gives you a lot of confidence in general, but I know I just need to keep doing the right things day to day and the results I cant really control. But I think Im just working towards getting closer and closer to the top ones," the 22-year-old explained in New York.
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Swiatek's status in the women's game is well-documented, and if Raducanu gets a chance to play the Pole, she would get exactly what she wants.
