Emma Raducanu produced one of the most emphatic statements of her comeback campaign on Saturday, winning two matches in a single day to reach the final of the Queen’s Club Championships, while compatriot Katie Boulter’s run ended at the semi-final stage on the same west London grass.
The 2021 US Open champion saw off Zheng Qinwen 6-4, 6-3 in a rain-delayed quarter-final completed in the early afternoon, then returned barely three hours later to dismantle Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 7-5 under the lights on Centre Court. “I’m back and better,” Raducanu told the BBC after sealing her place in Sunday’s showpiece. “Two matches in a day on grass, against that level of opponent — I wouldn’t have believed it six months ago.” Boulter, meanwhile, was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by world number eight Jasmine Paolini in the other semi-final, ending the British number one’s bid for back-to-back grass-court titles after her Nottingham triumph last week.
Raducanu rediscovers her hard edge
What stood out across both Raducanu performances was the variety. The 23-year-old hit 14 aces across the two matches, won 78 per cent of her first-serve points in the Kasatkina semi-final, and broke serve seven times in total. The slice backhand that had looked tentative during her clay swing in Madrid and Rome was deployed with conviction on the low-bouncing London grass, drawing errors from Kasatkina’s normally reliable two-hander.
Zheng, the Olympic champion and a top-five player, was reduced to long-range defence in the second set of their quarter-final, broken three times by a returner who took the ball early and refused to allow rhythm. Against Kasatkina, Raducanu trailed 4-2 in the second set and faced two break points that would have taken the Russian-born Australian to within a game of forcing a decider. She saved both with first serves out wide, then reeled off five games in succession.
It is the first WTA 500 final Raducanu has contested since Washington in 2023, and only her third tour-level final overall. Her ranking, which had drifted to 38 at the start of the week, will rise into the top 25 on Monday regardless of Sunday’s outcome — her highest position since August 2022.
Boulter falls short against the Italian wall
Boulter’s defeat carried a familiar pattern. The 27-year-old struck 22 winners but coughed up 31 unforced errors against Paolini, whose retrieving from the baseline forced the British number one to attempt one more shot than she wanted on almost every rally. Paolini, runner-up at Wimbledon and Roland Garros in 2024, broke decisively at 5-5 in the first set after Boulter double-faulted twice in succession.
The Leicester player had arrived at Queen’s having defended her Nottingham Open title last Sunday, becoming the first British woman to retain a WTA title on home soil since Sue Barker in 1981. She remains British number one and will move to a career-high ranking of 24 on Monday, but the loss denied her a first WTA 500 final and a likely seeding boost ahead of Wimbledon, which begins on June 30.
“Jasmine made me play one more ball than I had in me today,” Boulter said. “It’s a level up from anything I’ve faced this season. That’s what the top 10 looks like.”
What Sunday and Wimbledon mean
Sunday’s final pits Raducanu against Paolini in a contrast of styles: the Briton’s flat, early-strike baseline game against the Italian’s relentless court coverage and topspin. The pair have met once, in Indian Wells in March, where Paolini won 6-4, 6-2 — but on a hard court, not the surface that has historically suited Raducanu’s timing best.
The wider significance is hard to overstate for a British tennis summer that begins in earnest at Wimbledon in 17 days. Raducanu and Boulter are now realistic seeds at SW19 for the first time since 2022, with Jack Draper expected to be seeded in the men’s draw. The Lawn Tennis Association will hope that translates into deeper home runs at a tournament where no British woman has reached the second week since Johanna Konta in 2019.
- Raducanu’s projected ranking on Monday: a place inside the top 25, her highest since August 2022.
- Boulter to move to a career-high 24 despite the semi-final loss.
- Final on Sunday: Raducanu vs Paolini, 14:00 BST, Andy Murray Arena.
- Wimbledon main draw begins Monday, June 30.
For Raducanu, the grass-court swing that once produced an improbable Slam title has, three years on, started to look like a place she belongs again — not because of nostalgia, but because the numbers and the level finally agree.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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