Tennis stars descend on Seoul for Hana Bank Korea Open

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Tennis stars descend on Seoul for Hana Bank Korea Open

Published: 16 Sep. 2024, 11:33 Updated: 18 Sep. 2024, 12:43

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Emma Raducanu returns the ball during a practice session prior to the start of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Aug. 22. [AFP/YONHAP]

Five of the WTA's top 20 tennis players arrived in Seoul this week for the 2024 Hana Bank Korea Open, joining a packed field including 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducano for the tournament’s 20th anniversary at Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul.

First started in 2004, the WTA Korea Open has seen a total of six players win the title and go on to become world No. 1, in addition to four players that competed at the tournament after becoming the No. 1.

The Korea Open is a WTA 500 event on the 2024 WTA Tour, the global elite women’s professional tennis circuit organized by the Women’s Tennis Association. Winners of the WTA 500 tournaments earn 500 ranking points. It is the highest level of professional tennis played in Korea, with the equivalent ATP event held only once in 2022.

Raducanu, 21, joins the Korea Open on the back of one Grand Slam singles title: The U.S Open in 2021. She was the first British women to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade at the 1977 Wimbeldon Championships.

Raducanu is one of seven players to compete in the Korea Open after winning a Grand Slam title. This year marks her second time competing at the tournament after achieving the feat in 2021, having competed at the event in 2022. She has yet to win the Korea Open.

Fellow U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, who took the title in 2017, meanwhile, joins the Korea Open after failing to add one more U.S. Open title this year, suffering a first-round loss last month at the tournament.

Sloane Stephens returns a shot to Clara Burel during a first round match of the U.S. Open in New York on Aug. 26. [AP/YONHAP]

Defending champion Jessica Pegula will not be able to defend her Korea Open title this year as she is not competing due to an injury she picked up during the 2024 U.S. Open where she finished as a runner-up in the women’s singles earlier this month.

Jessica Pegula celebrates after beating Yue Yuan during their final match of the Korea Open in southern Seoul on Oct. 15, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, meanwhile, also withdrew from the Korea Open at the end of last week.

“I’m sorry to withdraw from Seoul due to change of schedule. I hope to play there someday and look forward to it,” Swiatek told the Korea Open organizing committee on Friday.

But the tournament will see some regulars returning, including Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands, who will be competing at the event for a seventh time.

Rus made her first Korea Open appearance in 2008 and competed again last year, although she has yet to win the tournament. The Dutch player is still not the player with the most appearances in Korea Open history, however, as Korean player Jang Su-jeong will be making a record ninth appearance this year.

If Jang wins the singles title, she will be the first Korean to do so. Not a single Korean has even reached the singles final in Korea Open history, although there have been two winners from Asia: Kimiko Date-Krumm from Japan in 2009 and Zhu Lin from China in 2021.

Jang Su-jeong returns a shot to Emina Bektas during their second round match of the Korea Open in southern Seoul on Oct. 12, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]

But the doubles events saw Korean duos take the title three times, with Choi Ji-hee and Han Na-lae having done so most recently in 2021. Neither are competing this year.

The doubles tournament begins from the round of 16, while the singles contest starts from the round of 32 after qualifying.

Raducandu will face Peyton Stearns from the United States in the singles round of 32, while Jang will play Ajla Tomljanovic from Australia in the same round.

Both singles and doubles contests will last through Sept. 22.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]