Emma Raducanu will regain her status as the best female tennis player in Britain for the first time in two years after she continued her solid start to the grass-court season by defeating Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals at Queen’s.
Raducanu, who now sits at world No 35 in the live rankings, will return to British No 1 next week after Katie Boulter fell to the fifth seed, Diana Shnaider, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday. Raducanu has not been the highest-ranked player in the country since June 2023 when she was recovering from surgeries to her wrists and ankle. She missed a total of eight months in 2023 and consequently fell out of the top 300.
“It’s nice, but I wouldn’t say it’s the most important thing for me,” said Raducanu. “Having Katie in front, it was nice for me to have something to chase. Now I’m sure she’s going to enjoy that with me. The grass season is still young, and so is the rest of the season. But regardless, we have a healthy competition between us two. I want to see her do well; she wants to see me do well. It was nice to also play doubles with her this week.”
As in her first-round win, Raducanu opened the match returning brilliantly, immediately putting Sramkova under consistent pressure by taking returns early and looking to dominate the Slovak’s second serve. She flitted to a 5-0 first-set lead but, as she attempted to close out the set, Raducanu lost all momentum and intensity. She was pulled back to 5-4 before resetting and closing out the set with an authoritative service game.
Although Sramkova, the world No 41, is a good player and an excellent athlete, her counterpunching style is better suited to slower surfaces. Raducanu was in total control of most exchanges and, aside from her brief detour in the first set, was dominant from the baseline. She established a 5-1 lead in the second set, and this time did not let it slip.
Raducanu is joined this week by both Mark Petchey, who is working with her throughout the grass-court season and her previous coach Nick Cavaday. Raducanu and Cavaday had worked together for about 14 months until the end of the Australian Open in January when he decided to step back due to health reasons. The presence of two trusted voices in her team appears to be another positive step forward for the 22-year-old.
Before the tournament, Raducanu revealed that her preparation for Queen’s had been disrupted by her continued issues with back spasms, which had affected her days before the French Open at the Strasbourg Open. However, she has looked in good shape this week. She started her grass-court campaign with an excellent performance in her dominant win over the qualifier Cristina Bucsa. She also played two doubles matches with Boulter, only the second doubles appearance in her career, a good indication of her physical shape.
Friday will offer a good test of Raducanu’s actual level when she faces Zheng Qinwen, the top seed, who overcame McCartney Kessler in a tough three-setter late on Thursday evening.
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Earlier, Boulter had started her second-round match strongly before being outplayed by Shnaider, a talented left-hander ranked No 12. At 21 years old, Shnaider is the second-youngest player in the top 20 behind her fellow Russian Mirra Andreeva and she is a devastating ball-striker. “I’m very happy for Raducanu to be British No 1,” said Boulter, who will be ranked No 39 at best by Monday. “But at the same time, it’s going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she’s been doing that for a while. Now it’s kind of my turn.”
After enthusiastically celebrating another solid victory, Raducanu immediately thought of her doubles partner and friendly singles rival, signing the camera: “Long live Boultercanu.” She later explained that it had been difficult to bounce back after their doubles quarter-final defeat by the top seeds Erin Routliffe and Lyudmyla Kichenok on Wednesday.
“Honestly, it was actually a real challenge for me today,” said Raducanu. “I’m not used to playing doubles. I lost the match yesterday and I was really upset. I really felt I was out of the tournament. So to get myself fired up for this one was really difficult. I’m really happy to get myself through this one. I really want to play with Katie again in the future.”
