Emma Raducanu’s Korea Open quarter-final postponed due to heavy rain

Emma Raducanu’s Korea Open quarter-final with Daria Kasatkina has been rained off.

Raducanu was due to play the top seed on Friday morning, but heavy rain in Seoul has forced all play to be abandoned for the day.

The 21-year-old will now play on Saturday and if she wins will have to return to court later that day for a semi-final.

Raducanu has shown promising signs during her two victories in the tournament so far, battling hard to beat top 50 players Peyton Stearns and Yue Yuan on her way to the last eight.

She is looking to make just her second ever WTA Tour semi-final, having also reached the last four in Nottingham in June, but she will have a tough test against the world number 13.

Kasatkina beat Raducanu in the quarter-finals in Eastbourne in the week before Wimbledon.

Matches between Diana Shnaider and Marta Kostyuk, Polina Kudermetova and Beatriz Haddad Maia and Viktoriya Tomova against Veronika Kudermetova are also abandoned.

Meanwhile, defending champion Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from the China Open starting next week because of “personal matters”.

The Pole was due to return to action following her quarter-final loss to Jessica Pegula at the US Open but will instead sit out the big WTA Tour event.

“Due to personal matters, I’m forced to withdraw from the China Open in Beijing,” said Swiatek on wtatennis.com.

“I’m very sorry as I had an amazing time playing and winning this tournament last year and was really looking forward to being back there.”

US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will therefore be the top seed for the event, which starts on September 25, and will have the chance to move within touching distance of overhauling Swiatek at the top of the rankings.