Emma Raducanu beats Yanina Wickmayer to reach Korean Open quarter-finals, British No. 1 on course for title

Emma Raducanu beat Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the Korean Open in Seoul.

Sixth seed Raducanu won 6-3 7-5 after reeling off three games in a row to win the first set and was on course to take a relatively easy victory after breaking early in the second.

But Wickmayer fought back before Raducanu steadied to get over the line. The British No. 1 will play third seed Magda Linette in the next round.

“Last week I struggled a bit with my legs, just doing a lot of training, and as I said, the rest of this year is just really trying to build up physically for the next year,” she said.

“So I’m training a lot – like before the match today I did 90 minutes on the court, and I’m just trying to get myself in good shape.

“And that comes sometimes with small niggles. At the moment it’s something I’m just managing, but I know it’s for a greater benefit so I’ve kind of bought into that process.”

Raducanu dropped to world No. 83 after her early exit at the US Open last month and is looking to rise back up the WTA rankings.

The 19-year-old says she will continue to work with her coach Dmitry Tursunov following a number of coaching changes over the last 12 months.

“I have definitely done more since starting with Dmitry,” said Raducanu. “I have done a lot more hours, and that’s something he and the other people in my team think is quite necessary, and myself included, just getting more robust, so long matches, or matches in a row, don’t affect me.

“And I think also just not trying to over complicate things for myself, he’s helping with that, because sometimes I enjoy doing that, thinking of worst possible outcome, and just over-thinking it. So he’s also trying to help me become more easy-going.”