Emma Raducanu continues world rankings climb but worst fears realised

Emma Raducanu's return to action after needing hospital treatment didn't go to plan. The 22-year-old, who has climbed one place to 29 in the latest WTA rankings, exited the Wuhan Open after retiring due to illness in her first-round match against Ann Li.

Raducanu had won the pair’s only previous encounter on the Eastbourne grass in June and she began with a break of serve in the Chinese city. But that was as good as it got for the British No.1. She lost the next six games in a row, appearing devoid of energy, and after a similarly uncompetitive second set, Raducanu shook hands with Li following a medical timeout when trailing 6-1 4-1. Dizziness was given as the reason for her retirement.

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American Li said: “I hope she feels better. I don’t know what happened, but you could tell towards the end she was maybe not moving as much.”

After Raducanu and her team declined to speak to the media after the match, she finally gave an update on her condition. In a post on Threads, she shared an image of herself sitting on a hospital bed, captioned: “Last day at the doctor’s in Wuhan… feeling better now, shame I couldn’t continue there but thank you for the messages [heart emoji].”

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Fears she would miss the Ningbo Open, a WTA 500 event, were allayed as she took to the court against China’s Zhu Lin on Tuesday. Ahead of the match, she posted a picture of an empty gym, suggesting she was fit and ready to return to action.

But more medical timeouts were required after she'd won the first set 6-3, and the worst fears about her health were soon realised. Her blood pressure was taken during the second, which she lost 4-6, before Zhu took advantage in the third, claiming it 1-6.

It has been a tough past few weeks for Raducanu, who spurned match points against both Barbora Krejcikova and Jessica Pegula to lose at the Korea Open and China Open, respectively. The 2021 US Open champion insisted she was staying upbeat despite the twin setbacks.

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While Raducanu has climbed to 29 in the world rankings, Aryna Sabalenka continues to lead the way with a healthy margain over Iga Swiatek, with Coco Gauff rounding out the top three. Pegula is up one place to five, with Mirra Andreeva dropping to six.

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