With the Laver Cup set to begin on 20 September, two teams with high-profile tennis players will play each other over three days, led by John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg. However, with the Laver Cup being a selective event, a lot of players are not playing in the tournament. This may result in tennis fans shifting their eyes to other exciting tournaments, like the Chengdu Open, the Korea Open, the Hangzhou Open, and the Thailand Open.
At the Chengdu Open, big players like Lorenzo Mussetti, Jungcheng Shang, Kei Nishikori, and Lorenzo Sonego will be present. Alexander Zverev was last year's champion at Chengdu but has opted to play the Laver Cup this season. Then, at the Thailand Open, Katie Volynets, Arianne Hartono, Taylah Preston, Tatiana Prozorova, and Tamara Zidansek will all be looking to claim the WTA 250 title. Diana Shnaider, the 2023 champion at the Thailand Open is playing at the Korea Open this year.
Elsewhere, Holger Rune, Brandon Nakashima, Zhizhen Zhang, and Karen Khachanov are among the big names playing at the Hangzhou Open. This new ATP 250 tournament was added to the tour replacing the Zhuhai Open. The Korea Open also has some heavyweights featuring, such as Daria Kasatkina, Diana Shnaider, Marta Kostyuk, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Emma Raducanu.
Raducanu has been dealing with injuries but has shone so far at the Korea Open. She reached the tournament's quarterfinals after defeating Yue Yuan in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. She will now be facing the top seed Daria Kasatkina, which looks to be her most challenging test of the year.
Emma Raducanu's Seoul QF against Daria Kasatkina postponed due to rain
Following heavy rain in Seoul on Friday, the quarterfinal clash between top seed Daria Kasatkina and Emma Raducanu has been pushed back by a day. It will now be played on Saturday, though rain is still expected.
The former US Open champion has lost to Kasatkina in both of their previous meetings, most recently at the Eastbourne quarterfinals just three months ago. However, the Brit has shown an improvement in her baseline game at the Korea Open and will be bidding to defeat Kasatkina for the first time. If she does so, it will be her first semifinal appearance on the WTA Tour since her 2021 US Open win.
Their match is set to take place on Centre Court at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center. Kasatkina has also been in good form, defeating Hailey Baptiste in the Round of 16 in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to make her way into the quarterfinals.