Emma Raducanu acquired a qualifying wildcard into the Abu Dhabi Open and that signifies that the Briton is ready to play in qualies for the primary time since her historic 2021 US Open run.
After accepting a major draw wildcard into Singapore, the world No. 56 made her debut on the match this week.
Sadly for the 22-year-old, it did not go effectively after she misplaced a three-hour three-set thriller to world No. 101 Cristina Bucsa within the first spherical.
After the Singapore exit, the organizers of the WTA 500 match in Abu Dhabi supplied Raducanu a wildcard – not a major draw one – however a qualifying.
And since she has accepted it, which means she should win two matches over the weekend to qualify for the match.
Final 12 months, the previous world No. 10 made her Abu Dhabi debut, beating Marie Bouzkova in her opener earlier than falling brief to Ons Jabeur within the round-of-16.
Emma Raducanu and Ons Jabeur© YouTube screenshot
Raducanu acquired criticism and backlash over avoiding qualifying occasions
Final 12 months, the Briton did not get a direct entry or a major draw wildcard for the French Open and a few WTA 1000 tournaments.
And after she determined to skip qualifying, some began arguing that she was intentionally avoiding qualifying and that led to criticism and backlash.
Nevertheless, she denied that was the case.
“I think playing qualies is not something that I am against,” Raducanu instructed BBC Sport final August.
“If you get through those two rounds you feel you’re adjusted to the court. If you’re playing a seed, you have a better eye for the ball, a better feel – it’s not that I am against it at all.”
The 22-year-old final performed qualifying in 2021, when she famously received a complete of 10 matches on the US Open to grow to be the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
Raducanu produced an excellent run the final time she performed in qualies and there’s no doubt that she would like to do one thing related once more.
