Emma Raducanu will face Zhu Lin in the first round of the Ningbo Open and if she gets past the Chinese veteran, she will have to navigate a nightmare path.<\/p>\n
There had been doubts over Raducanu\u2019s participation in the WTA 500 event following her retirement from her opening match at the Wuhan Open last year with a recent social media post<\/a> suggesting she was still receiving medical treatment just days before the Ningbo event.<\/p>\n But the British No 1 has made her way to China\u2019s northeastern Zhejiang province and her name remained in the main draw, giving her a chance to earn some crucial ranking points in the coming week.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old doesn\u2019t have any points to defend in the last few months of the season and a good run in Ningbo will see her rise further up the rankings following her recent climb to No 29.<\/p>\n And Raducanu<\/a> has landed in the top half of the draw with the 31-year-old Zhu \u2013 a former world No 38, who currently sits at No 230 in the WTA Rankings \u2013 her first opponent.<\/p>\n If she gets the better of Zhu, she will face top seed and current world No 5 Mirra Andreeva<\/a> \u2013 who has a first-round bye \u2013 in the round of 16 in what will be their first-ever career meeting.<\/p>\n The winner of round of 16 encounter will face one of 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova\/Karolina Muchova\/seventh seed Diana Schaider\/wildcard Wang Xinyu in the quarter-final.<\/p>\n Fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova is the second-highest seed in the top half and she is projected to make the semi-final, although she will likely have to get past eighth seed Luidila Samsonova in the last eight.<\/p>\n WTA Features<\/p>\n Aryna Sabalenka and Jasmine Paolini reveal an alternative view on extended WTA 1000 events<\/a><\/p>\n