At the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul, Emma Raducanu played probably the best tournament of her season when she reached the first semifinals since her US Open run.
The 19-years-old Brit defeated Moyuka Uchijima, Yanina Wickmayer and Magda Linette before being forced to retire in a match against Jelena Ostapenko due to an injury. Despite the disappointing end, Emma Raducanu showed that she's really happy with her performance when she said:
"I think it is pretty cool to be in my first semifinal and build my way on the tour in the right way. I think it is quite a nice reward for all the hard work I have done on the practice court and a lot of hours. It is a really nice feeling"
"I'm happy with the way that I'm building my game back up and progressing. And trying to set myself as best as possible up for next year and also just to improve my game. I think I'm taking on the challenges," said Raducanu during an interview at the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul.
Her semifinal run earned her plenty of points and so she was able to move up in the WTA Rankings by 11 places to spot no. 66. Currently, Raducanu is the third-youngest teenager in the rankings and so despite a major fall from Top 10 after this year's US Open, she still does well in terms of her age group.
In the upcoming weeks, Raducanu is set to play in Ostrava and Cluj. Thanks to registering for the WTA 500 event in Ostrava when she was still ranked 11th, she's by far the lowest-ranked player that enters the main draw and that gives her a lot of room to move forward.
If the 2021 US Open manages to play at these two events like she played in Seoul, she can easily finish the year in Top 50 of the WTA Rankings and despite a difficult start, finish the year with a few positives results. In the best possible scenario, Emma Raducanu can be ranked inside of the Top 30 of the WTA Rankings.
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