Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu’s doubles partnership at the Queen’s Club Championships came to an end on Wednesday as they fell to a 6-2, 7-5 defeat to No. 1 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe.
The duo — ranked as British women’s No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, had been denied a clash against compatriots Jodie Burrage and Sonay Kartal after they were beaten by Kichenok and Routliffe in the previous round.
Boulter and Raducanu’s win over China’s Xinyu Jiang and Taiwan’s Fang-Hsien Wu on Monday marked the first competitive doubles match the pair have played together and their lack of chemistry in comparison to Kichenok and Routliffe showed.
Kichenok and Routliffe set the tone early by earning a break at the first opportunity with a well-placed forehand down the middle of the court after a lengthy rally.
They comfortably took the opening set at the Andy Murray Arena, but the British duo put up more of a fight in the second.
They earned their first break when Raducanu overpowered Routliffe at the net before the Brits held serve to level the score at 4-4.
But Boulter and Raducanu then wasted three break points in the next game as the top seeds earned an unlikely hold.
The duo, dubbed “Boultercanu,” were made to rue that missed opportunity as their opponents booked their place in the third round after Raducanu sent a forehand long as Kichenok and Routliffe clinched a deserved victory in west London.
Later on Wednesday, Sonay Kartal fell short against American Amanda Anisimova in the women’s singles.
Kartal, who clinched the biggest win of her nascent career on Monday, was no match for Anisimova as she suffered a 6-1, 6-3 defeat in one hour and five minutes.
Anisimova will face compatriot Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals.
