Squaring off for the second time in a matter of weeks, Emma Raducanu and Peyton Stearns will vie for a place in the second round of the Korea Open on Tuesday.
The WTA 500 tournament was hit by a plethora of high-profile withdrawals before commencing, but that should only be music to Raducanu's ears as she makes her first appearance since the US Open.
Match preview
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Following a heavily-criticised warm-up period in which she snubbed the chance to enter qualifying in the Canadian and Cincinnati Opens, Raducanu's dream of repeating her run to US Open glory in 2021 ended extremely prematurely at Flushing Meadows.
Indeed, the world number 70 - who affirmed before the tournament that she felt in a good place with her tennis - was sent crashing out in the first round by fellow one-time major winner Sofia Kenin, despite clawing her way back into the contest in the second set.
The waterworks flowed for Raducanu in her post-match press conference as she conceded she would have liked to have played a few more matches before gunning for Grand Slam glory, hinting that she had learned from her decision to snub a couple of pre-US Open qualifying events.
The 21-year-old did not even make the original Korea Open main-draw list, but thanks to all of Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Karolina Pliskova and Emma Navarro pulling out, Raducanu earned a golden ticket to her first competition since New York.
The former US Open champion had made headlines for the right reasons in the months before her Flushing Meadows misery, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon and the quarter-finals of the Citi Open, where her opponent on Tuesday unsuccessfully stood in her way.
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One year Raducanu's senior, world number 48 Stearns did not share the Briton's fate at the US Open, where she defeated Lesia Tsurenko and upset 12th seed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets en route to a third-round meeting with Croatia's Donna Vekic.
Bidding to reach the last 16 for the second year running - thereby matching her best-ever Slam result in the process - the American failed to replicate her shock success over Kasatkina in round two, falling short in a 5-7 4-6 loss to her 24th-seeded foe.
While her New York run ended earlier than she would have hoped, the 2024 campaign has been another one of significant progress for Stearns, who won her first WTA Tour title at the Rabat Grand Prix in May and reached her first Masters quarter-final in Canada.
The 22-year-old's run to the last eight in Montreal should not be taken at face value, though, as her second-round match with Madison Keys and third-round contest with Victoria Azarenka were both won by retirement before she fell to Pegula's superiority.
China's Yuan Yue will be awaiting the victor of this battle in the second round, and both players are also on a collision course to face top seed Kasatkina in round three. Should the Brits shine in Seoul, Raducanu could also find herself up against compatriot Heather Watson in the semi-finals.
Head To Head
Citi Open (2024) - Last 16: Raducanu wins 7-6[6] 6-2
While some commuters in London wait an age for a bus then two come at once, Raducanu and Stearns will be clashing racquets for the second time in the space of two months after never previously crossing paths on the WTA Tour before 2024.
Indeed, the duo locked horns at the end of July in the last 16 of the Citi Open, where Raducanu came up trumps in straight sets, shading a close first-set tie-breaker before running away with the second.
The Briton saved five of the six break points that Stearns managed to fashion, and that two-set victory actually represents her most recent win on the WTA Tour; she subsequently lost a three-set thriller to Paula Badosa in the quarters.
We say: Stearns to win in three sets
Owing to Raducanu's distinct lack of on-court action over the past few weeks, there should be no repeat of her straight-sets win over Stearns in Washington DC, and the American is no stranger to upsetting some distinguished names on the WTA Tour.
Even though both of Stearns's top-level finals so far have been fought on clay, her respectable US Open runs demonstrate her competence on hard courts too, and we can envisage the world number 48 triumphing in three as Raducanu goes back to the drawing board.
Ben Knapton
