Emma Raducanu cruised into the semifinals of the Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul with a 6-2 6-2 win over Magda Linette in 77 minutes.
Raducanu has reached her second WTA Tour level semifinal and the first since her title at the 2021 US Open.
Raducanu set up a semifinal match against number 1 seed Jelena Ostapenko, who cruised past Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva 6-2 6-1 in 74 minutes. Raducanu dropped just one point on her first serve.
Raducanu won a one-sided first set 6-2 with two breaks of serve in the first and third games. Linette held three break points for 2-0, but Raducanu won five consecutive points to hold serve at deuce. The British player hit a chipped return winner to break Linette in the next game. Linette received treatment on her right thigh after the third game of the second set and dropped 14 of the next 17 points. Raducanu broke serve in the fifth game to race out to a 5-1 lead and closed out the match with her third love hold.
“I think Magda was feeling it a bit physically. She has had a lot of matches and good wins because she is a really tough player, and sometimes it catches up with the body. I think it’s pretty cool to make my first semifinal and build my way on tour the right way, to go through the stages”, said Raducanu.
Raducanu set up a semifinal match against Jelena Ostapenko, who cruised past lucky loser Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva 6-2 6-1 in 74 minutes.
Kasintseva, who was making her first quarter final on the WTA Tour, earned an early 2-0 lead, but Ostapenko came back by winning eight consecutive games with four breaks. Kasintseva pulled back on serve in the third game, but Ostapenko broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to close out the second set 6-1.
Ekaterina Alexandrova fended off one set point in the tie-break of the second set to beat Swiss qualifier Lulu Sun 7-5 7-6 (8-6) reaching her fourth semifinal in 2022. Alexandrova set up a semifinal against this year’s Wimbledon semifinal Tatjana Maria, who cruised number 4 seed Zhu Lin 6-1 6-1 in just 59 minutes. Maria reached her third semifinal this season after Wimbledon and Bogotà.
