Britain’s Emma Raducanu secured a hard-fought victory over Peyton Stearns, winning 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the opening round of the Korea Open on Tuesday in Seoul. This match marked Raducanu’s return to competition after her early exit at the U.S. Open. She built a 4-1 lead in the first set, which lasted 74 minutes, and then took 89 minutes to finish Stearns in the second set, setting up a second-round match against China’s Yuan Yue.
In other matches, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic battled through 16 double faults to defeat South Korea’s Su Jeong Jang with a score of 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3. Amanda Anisova eliminated the sixth-seeded Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan, winning 6-3, 7-6 (5). Also progressing in the tournament were Hailey Baptiste, Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, and Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.
At the Thailand Open in Hua Hin, third-seeded Xinyu Wang from China achieved a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 victory against Egypt’s Mayar Sherif in the first round. Xinyu won 68.6 percent of her first serves and saved five out of six break points, allowing her to move on to face Spain’s Rebeka Masarova.
Japan’s Mai Hontama caused an upset by defeating the top-seeded Dayana Yastremska from Ukraine 7-6 (4), 7-5, while fourth seed Magda Linette of Poland triumphed over Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine with a score of 6-2, 7-5. Additional winners included Arianne Hartono from the Netherlands and Jana Fett from Croatia.