Emma Raducanu has been handed a kind draw at her first post-Australian Open tournament as all the players who are with her in the top half of the draw at the Transylvania Open are outside the top 40 in the rankings.
World No 29 Raducanu made an early exit from the season-opening Grand Slam as she was beaten in straight sets by Anastasia Potapova, but there is good news as she will avoid the world No 55 up until the semi-finals, should she get that far.
The British No 1 will take on world No 153 Greet Minnen in what will be their first WTA-level encounter, although they have met before at an ITF tournament.
Minnen, who peaked at No 53 in the WTA Rankings in 2023, didn’t play at the Australian Open as she lost in the third round of qualifying and her last WTA Tour event was in October 2025 at the Japan Open where she also lost in the qualifiers.
Raducanu, meanwhile, is 2-3 for the 2026 season after she lost her only encounter at the United Cup before losing in the second round in Hobart and the second round at Melbourne Park.
The WTA 250 event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, will also be Raducanu’s first tournament she announced her split from Francisco Roig.
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The winner of the Raducanu-Minnen encounter will face Romanian wildcard and world No 303 Elena Bertea or world No 100 Juvan in the second round while seventh seed and world No 69 Olga Danilovic is a projected quarter-final opponent.
After Raducanu, world No 46 Wang is the next highgest-ranked player in the top half and she is projected to meet eighth seed Anna Bondar in the quarter-final.
If the seedings hold, then Raducanu will face Wang in the quarter-final.
World No 35 Jaqueline Cristian headlines the bottom half of the draw and the second seed kicks off her campaign against Camila Osorio from Colombia while sixth seed Antonia Ružic is as probable quarter-final opponent, should both players reach that stage.
Third seed Sorana Cirstea starts off against Kamilla Rakhimova and she is projected to meet Potapova in the quarter-final.
However, Potapova faces Lucia Bronzetti in her opener and there is a possible banana skin in her path as she could meet former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova, fresh from reaching the last 32 at the Australian Open, in the second round.
Projected Cluj-Napoca Quarter-Final
Emma Raducanu v Olga Danilovic
Wang Xinyu v Anna Bondar
Anastasia Potapova v Sorana Cirstea
Antonia Ruzic v Jaqueline Cristian
The post WTA Transylvania draw: Emma Raducanu to face world No 153 as she earns decent path appeared first on Tennis365.
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