Tennis matches in Korea delayed by rainfall
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in Seoul, South Korea, has faced a setback due to rain on Friday, causing the postponement of all four quarterfinals, which were initially scheduled for Friday evening. The tournament, being held at the Olympic Park Tennis Center, will now resume with the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The first match on the center court on Saturday will pit Ella Seidel of Germany against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No. 2 seed from Russia. This match will follow the highly-anticipated clash between Iga Swiatek, the top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion, and Barbora Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam singles winner from the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, at the adjacent grandstand court, Clara Tauson of Denmark will take on Maya Joint of Australia at noon. In the second match on the grandstand court, Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic will square off.
The four quarterfinal matches will be split between the two courts on Saturday. Both semifinal matches will be played at the center court, with the first match scheduled to start at 5 p.m. The final of the tournament is scheduled for Sunday.
The Korea Open, which has never had back-to-back champions since its launch in 2004, has had some weather-related disruptions earlier in the week, pushing back some round of 16 matches to Wednesday. The postponed matches have been scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Interestingly, five out of the eight seeded players were bounced in the round of 16, including Beatriz Haddad Maia, the defending champion from Brazil, and Emma Raducanu of Britain, the 2021 US Open champion.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 2022 winner, will try to become the first player to win multiple Korea Open titles if she manages to win her matches and make it to the finals. The tournament promises to be an exciting one, with many unexpected twists and turns in store.
