After high hopes for Asian swing, foot injury forces Emma Raducanu out of Beijing

Injury has again stopped Emma Raducanu's momentum in its tracks: this time, due to sprained ligaments in her left foot.

The Brit, who had a medical timeout in her second-round win at the Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul last week before retiring after losing the first set of her quarterfinal match against Daria Kasatkina, announced the medical update on social media on Monday, as well as her withdrawal from the WTA 1000 in Beijing that begins Tuesday.

Raducanu was placed in the China Open draw, and had been projected to face Olympic champion and No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen in the second round, before she withdrew.

"I hope to be back as soon as I can," the 2021 US Open champion wrote in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Raducanu had previously expressed high hopes for a portion of the season in which she says she thrives, recently telling WTA Insider's Courtney Nguyen that she sought to "prioritize" the Asian swing this year, and was looking forward to playing in China, where her mother is from and grandmother still lives, for the first time.

"I stacked the year on the backend heavy, because I'm excited. I thrive in Asia. It's where I truly feel like home," she said, "so I'm buzzing for that trip even though it's at the end of the year. I'm looking forward to going out there and trying to take it."

The Brit is currently ranked No. 54, having moved up 16 spots in this week's rankings after her Seoul efforts.

Joining Rybakina on the sidelines is former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina, who became the fourth Top 10 player to withdraw from Beijing due to the back problem that ended her US Open prematurely. Rybakina will miss the entire Asian swing due to injury, but hopes to return to compete in the season-ending WTA Finals, for which she has all but officially qualified.

Read more: Defending champion Iga Swiatek withdraws from Beijing due to 'personal matters'

"Due to an ongoing back injury, I regretfully have to withdraw from the upcoming Asian tournaments," Rybakina said in a statement. "While I’ve been working hard on my recovery, my medical team and I have decided it's best to prioritize my health at this time.

"This has been a challenging year and I am grateful for the support from the tournament organizers and all of my fans. My team and I will work on getting me back on the court before the season finale."