Emma Raducanu: Will British No. 1 overcome rock-hard draw and wrist worries as she faces Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart?

Emma Raducanu will start her 2023 clay season this week. The former US Open champion will be competing at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, having received a wild card for the WTA 500 tournament. Ad It will be Raducanu’s first competitive event since she was beaten in a tight match by Bianca Andreescu in the first round of the Miami Open a month ago.

WTA Stuttgart'Suits my game' — Raducanu hopes for improved performances on clay11/04/2023 AT 11:24 Will the British No. 1, who opted to skip Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against France last week, take more steps forward after being handed a very difficult draw? Rock-hard draw for Raducanu Raducanu made the quarter-finals in Stuttgart last year and if she does the same again she will have made some strong progress. Raducanu opens on Tuesday, April 18 against another former major winner in Jelena Ostapenko, who won their only previous meeting in South Korea last September.

Raducanu retired from the contest trailing 3-0 in the final set in what was her fourth and final retirement of the year. If Raducanu gets past 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko she faces another big test in world No. 4 Ons Jabeur, who won on clay in Charleston earlier this month.

Jabeur and Raducanu have not met on the WTA Tour but have been practising in Stuttgart and played each other in an exhibition match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi in December. Next after Jabeur could be Indian Wells champion Elena Ryabkina. And then awaiting in the semi-finals could be world No.

1 Iga Swiatek. As draws go they don’t come much tougher, but Raducanu had some promising performances in Indian Wells and also showed flashes in defeat to Andreescu. She will hope to