Emma Raducanu to make comeback from injury at Auckland event in January
Emma Raducanu will make her comeback at the ASB Classic in Auckland next month.
The 21-year-old has not played a match since a heavy loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April. She subsequently withdrew from the Madrid Open and opted to undergo surgery on both wrists and one ankle.
Having initially targeted a comeback in late summer or early autumn, Raducanu has ended up missing the rest of the 2023 season.
Until recently there were doubts over whether she would make the start of next year but those have eased in recent weeks as she has stepped up her training.
And it has now been announced she will play at the WTA tournament in New Zealand beginning on January 1.
It will be Raducanu’s second appearance in Auckland and she will hope it is more positive than her debut in January, when she suffered an ankle injury during her second-round match and retired in tears.
The former US Open champion was able to recover to compete at the Australian Open but opted to undergo a procedure on her ankle to repair the damage in the spring.
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She criticised the “slippery” courts afterwards but has decided to accept a wild card to return.
Raducanu’s ranking has slipped to 296 and she faces a long road back to the top of the game, but it should give her the opportunity to fill in some of the steps she missed out thanks to her giant leap to stardom.
She can use a protected ranking of 103 to enter tournaments because of her long lay-off but that is currently not high enough to earn her a place in the main draw of the Australian Open.
Barring enough withdrawals of higher-ranked players, or a wild card, she will have to go through qualifying at a slam for the first time since her stunning title run in New York in 2021.
Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki and Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina are among the other names confirmed for the Auckland tournament.
Emma Raducanu faces Australian Open wait as Caroline Wozniacki handed wild card
Former champion Caroline Wozniacki has been awarded a wild card for the Australian Open but Emma Raducanu has missed out on the initial batch.
Raducanu has a protected ranking of 103 due to her lengthy absence from the tour following operations on both wrists and one ankle but that is not currently high enough to secure entry to next month’s grand slam tournament.
The 21-year-old’s status as a former slam champion and one of the most high-profile female players in the sport counts in her favour but most wild cards usually go to home players.
If Raducanu is not given a wild card, and there are not sufficient withdrawals among higher-ranked players to secure her place, she will have to go through qualifying – the avenue by which she sensationally triumphed at the US Open in 2021.
The good news is, after doubts about the pace of her recovery, she has stepped up training in recent weeks and appears on track to return at the start of next season.
Raducanu has not played a tournament since the WTA event in Stuttgart in April and her actual ranking has fallen to 296.
That is 54 places lower than former world number one Wozniacki, who came out of retirement last summer following a three-and-a-half-year hiatus in which she had two children.
View this post on InstagramThe Dane impressed, reaching the fourth round of the US Open, and she told The AO Show: “I have so many wonderful memories of Melbourne, and of course winning the Australian Open is an all-time career highlight.
“Melbourne’s one of my most favourite cities in the world, and I can’t wait to share it with my family and my kids.”
Wozniacki won her only slam title at Melbourne Park in 2018 before retiring at the same venue two years later.
The other initial wild cards for the tournament, which begins on January 14, have gone to Australian trio Kimberly Birrell, Olivia Gadecki and Taylah Preston.
Southampton roll on as Adam Armstrong double sees off Cardiff
Adam Armstrong’s brace fired Southampton to a 2-0 victory over Cardiff and to Saints’ longest unbeaten run for 19 seasons.
Armstrong curled and headed in his 11th and 12th goals of the season to stay on the heels of Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics in the race for the Sky Bet Championship’s Golden Boot.
Saints stay fourth but the 11 matches they are now without defeat has equalled the number they went unbeaten between December 1994 and February 1995 – though that run remarkably contained nine draws, in contrast to the eight wins in the current sequence.
The opener came in the 11th minute to complete a fine team move.
Saints had passed and moved their way down the left flank before Flynn Downes fired in to Carlos Alcaraz, who laid off to Adam Armstrong. The in-form hitman took a touch before bending into the top corner.
Four minutes later the same player doubled the hosts’ lead. This time it was Stuart Armstrong’s quick feet that earned space on the left side of the box before his cross deflected up off Dimitrios Goutas and onto Adam Armstrong’s head.
While chances did not come freely for Southampton, they kept the ball and toyed with the Bluebirds with incisive passes as freezing fog hovered over St Mary’s.
Adam Armstrong almost completed his hat-trick when Che Adams’ cross was pawed into him but his header lacked power and allowed Alex Runarsson to scramble back across his line to hold on.
Alcaraz headed over a Stuart Armstrong centre but the third goal should have gone to the visitors in first-half stoppage time. Perry Ng’s deflected ball into the box found Josh Bowler a couple of yards out and free at the back post, but he skied over the crossbar.
Cardiff had only been behind once before at the break this season, and continued their attempt to a comeback as Karlan Grant fired wide.
Che Adams replied in kind in his first start since October before substitute Joe Aribo squirted a shot against the base of the post.
Ryan Fraser had three good chances to put Saints clear but failed to put either on target before a third effort was deflected wide.
The hosts continued to slice through hapless Cardiff but Runarsson denied Adam Armstrong a third after a rasping drive.
Fraser continued to be frustrated in front of goal while Sekou Mara also had shots as Southampton could have justifiably won by a landslide.
Former Swansea boss Russell Martin continued his 100 per cent win record against Cardiff but saw their promotion position unmoved, with Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds also winning.
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