Emma Raducanu will begin her Korea Open campaign against world No 43 Jaqueline Cristian, with the Brit opting to play the event instead of helping to represent Great Britain in their Billie Jean King Cup tie over Japan.
Having reached the third round of the US Open, and after notching up multiple high-quality performances against the world’s best, Raducanu will be seeking to gain key ranking points.
The Brit is currently occupying the world No 34 position, and is fewer than 40 ranking points away from entering the world’s top 32 – which would allow her to be seeded at next year’s Australian Open.
Who is Jaqueline Cristian?
Cristian is a professional Romanian tennis player and the current world No 43 – her career-best ranking.
She was born in Bucharest in June 1998 – making her 27 years old – and plays right handed with a two-handed backhand.
Cristian has garnered $2,819,404 in prize money across her career, having turned professional in 2012.
Her best performance at Grand-Slam level is a third-round showing at the Australian Open (2022) and at the US Open (2024).
Overall, the Romanian possesses a 354-253 match record.
Cristian is coached by former world No 170 Javier Marti.
What was Cristian’s early career like?
The Romanian first reached the world’s top 100 in November 2021 after making her maiden WTA semi-final at the Astana Opena and the last eight of the Transylvania Open (losing to top seed Simona Halep).
Most impressively, that season, Cristian booked her spot in the showpiece match of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz (falling to Alison Riske).
In January 2022, the world No 43 won her first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open, which further improved her ranking to the 58th spot.
The next month, Cristian defeated Elena Rybakina at the WTA 1000 in Qatar – marking her maiden victory at that level.
In 2024, at the WTA 500 event in Beijing, she saved three match points against defending French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova to collect her first victory over a top 10 opponent.
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How has she performed in 2025?
This season has marked numerous milestones for Cristian, aiding her rise to a new career-high ranking.
At the Australian Open, the Romanian advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time after defeating Petra Matric and Lucia Bronzetti.
Cristian lifted her maiden WTA 125 title at the Puerto Vallarta Open via a final victory over Linda Fruhvirtova.
Shortly after, she made the final of the Morocco Open and the third round of the French Open (losing out to Iga Swiatek in the latter) – a result which allowed her to enter the world’s top 50 for the first time.
Cristian was then knocked out of Wimbledon in the first round and reached the last 32 at the US Open.
The Romanian has a 28-20 match record for 2025 and has made over $1,000,000 this season alone.
What is Raducanu’s record against Cristian?
To date, the two players have never played, with their first clash being their upcoming Korea Open match.