Preview: Emma Raducanu vs. Taylah Preston - Hobart International prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Fresh from a first competitive victory in over 100 days, Emma Raducanu seeks a Hobart International semi-final spot in Thursday's last-eight encounter with Australian wild card Taylah Preston.

The British number one triumphed over Camila Osorio in a rain-affected opening battle, while her unfancied foe has already produced two upsets on home soil.

Match preview

Trailing 4-2 in the second set with Colombia's Osorio before the elements stopped play, the prolonged delay worked wonders for a re-energised Raducanu, who broke while her opponent was serving to level the match before getting the job done in two.

The top seed's 6-3 7-6[2] triumph marked her first success of the 2026 season, and a thoroughly deserved one, as she capitalised on Osorio's seven double faults and excelled in the final tie-breaker, taking a 6-1 lead before converting her second match point.

Raducanu - whose 2025 campaign was curtailed by a foot problem - was due to battle Poland's Magdalena Frech in the second round hours later, but her opponent withdrew through injury to offer the Briton some much-needed recuperation time.

The 2021 US Open winner now gears up for an immediate WTA Tour quarter-final after getting this far in just three tournaments last year, most recently July's Citi Open in which she battled past Maria Sakkari in straight sets.

Raducanu's run in DC then came to an end against Anna Kalinskaya in the final four, though, and she lost her other two quarter-finals in 2025, going down to Qinwen Zheng at Queen's and Jessica Pegula in Miami.

Three years Raducanu's junior and a whopping 175 places below the Briton in the WTA rankings, Preston has already hit a new career zenith regardless of what transpires in Thursday's quarter-final.

The 20-year-old Perth native has never competed in the last eight of a top-level tournament before, and to say she earned her way to a date with Raducanu would be an understatement, having shocked two more revered names in the first two rounds.

Preston firstly dispatched fifth seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in her opening tie before a 6-4 6-1 upset of Rebecca Sramkova, breaking the Slovakian six times and winning six games on the trot en route to victory.

The 2005-born wild card talked up her "fearless" on-court attitude as she reached her maiden WTA Tour quarter-final, although her women's doubles campaign with Talia Gibson came to an end in the quarter-finals just hours after her Sramkova win.

However, Preston can now channel all her energy into a marquee singles meeting with Raducanu, and her reward for another giant killing would be a semi-final against either Magda Linette or Iva Jovic.

Tournament so far

Emma Raducanu:

First round: vs. Camila Osorio 6-3 7-6[2]

Second round: vs. Magdalena Frech w/o

Taylah Preston:

First round: vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4 7-6[4]

Second round: vs. Rebecca Sramkova 6-4 6-1

Head To Head

Raducanu and Preston have unsurprisingly never locked horns at the top level before, and Thursday's showdown will mark the inaugural meeting between two right-handers.

The Briton boasts a marginal physical advantage over the wild card - standing at 5ft 9in compared to Preston's 5ft 7in - although both players adopt an aggressive, front-footed approach.

We say: Raducanu to win in two sets

Following her shock success over Sramkova, Preston admitted that her fearless style is likely to lead to a number of unforced errors, and it will be intriguing to see whether the 20-year-old adopts a more conservative approach against Raducanu.

Regardless, the wild card's dream run is surely destined to come to an end against a well-rested Raducanu, who is not dealing with doubles fatigue unlike her unfancied foe and has our vote to march into the final four.