Raducanu in controversy after wild-card change in Abu Dhabi

Emma Raducanu was due to qualify for the main draw of the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi with an invitation, but ended up with a wild-card to play directly in the main draw.

This last-minute change came as a surprise, as the tournament organizers had justified it on the grounds of withdrawals which would have enabled the player to enter the main draw.

For his part, journalist James Gray quickly investigated and found that Raducanu's wild-card had been swapped with that of Wakana Sonobe (world no. 834), recent winner of the Junior Australian Open.

The swap enabled Raducanu to avoid the qualifiers, while Sonobe made it through the 1st round on Saturday, beating Hailey Baptiste (6-3, 6-1) and will play tomorrow for a place in the main draw against Cristina Bucsa.

A decision criticized by several Internet users, since the tournament, owned by the IMG group (which represents Raducanu as a sports agency), is accused of having favored the Briton.