Emma Raducanu eased into the second round of the Queen’s Club Championships with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Anna Blinkova on Tuesday, surviving a two-hour rain delay to register her first win on grass since reaching the Wimbledon fourth round 12 months ago. The British number two needed one hour and 42 minutes of court time to dispatch the 27-year-old Russian, breaking serve four times on a damp Andy Murray Arena to set up a meeting with eighth seed Magdalena Frech.
Composure restored under the London drizzle
Raducanu, ranked 38 in the world after a steady clay-court swing, started briskly. She broke Blinkova in the opening game, holding to love for a 2-0 lead, before the heavens opened and players were ushered off at 3-1. When play resumed 124 minutes later, the 23-year-old picked up where she left off, conceding only nine more points on serve in the opening set.
The forehand, so often the barometer of her form, looked sharp from the baseline. Raducanu landed 78% of her first serves in the second set and won 22 of 28 points behind it, neutralising Blinkova’s attempts to dictate from the middle of the court. A double fault at 4-3 in the second offered the Russian a brief opening, but Raducanu responded with three consecutive winners, finishing the match with a 117mph ace down the T.
“The delay was not ideal, but I felt I held my rhythm well in the warm-up,” Raducanu said in her on-court interview. “Grass rewards intention, and I wanted to be the one stepping in. There are still rough edges, but I’m pleased with the first hurdle cleared.”
A measured return to her happiest surface
For Raducanu, grass is more than a surface — it is the canvas on which her career was painted. The 2021 US Open champion made her senior breakthrough at Wimbledon that summer as an 18-year-old wildcard, reaching the last 16 before retirement curtailed her run. Twelve months ago she returned to SW19’s second week for the first time since, beating Elise Mertens and pushing Lulu Sun in three sets.
The Queen’s tournament, expanded to include a women’s draw for the first time since 1973 last year, has become a vital staging post in that rebuild. Raducanu skipped Berlin and Eastbourne in favour of the Andy Murray Arena, citing a desire to acclimatise on the same courts that host the Wimbledon warm-up week for men. Her decision was vindicated by a draw that, on paper, offers a clear runway: Frech in the second round, then a probable last-eight tie with Madison Keys or Diana Shnaider.
Coach Mark Petchey, reinstated on a part-time basis after the dismissal of Nick Cavaday in January, watched from the player box alongside fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura. The pair have prioritised lower-body conditioning during the European spring, with Raducanu’s wrist and back injuries from 2023 increasingly distant memories. She has played 31 matches in 2026, her highest tally since the title run in New York.
Wimbledon picture begins to sharpen
Victory lifts Raducanu to within touching distance of the WTA top 32, the threshold for a Wimbledon seeding. A run to the quarter-finals at Queen’s would all but guarantee it, sparing her a potentially explosive first-round draw at the All England Club, where the tournament begins on June 29.
The British contingent will take encouragement from her display. Katie Boulter, the British number one, exited in the opening round to Yulia Putintseva on Monday, while Sonay Kartal awaits her debut against fifth seed Jessica Pegula on Wednesday. Raducanu remains the only home player past round one at a tournament that has openly courted her involvement; organisers gave her top billing on the schedule and slotted her match into the prime afternoon window.
The challenges ahead are sharper. Frech, a semi-finalist in Nottingham last week, is a counter-puncher who has troubled Raducanu in the past, winning their only previous meeting in straight sets at Indian Wells in 2024. Beyond that, the draw thickens with Pegula, Keys and defending champion Karolina Muchova in the same half.
For now, though, the relief is palpable. Eighteen months on from wrist and ankle surgeries, eight months on from a withdrawal in Seoul that prompted speculation about her physical durability, Raducanu has produced a clean, professional grass-court opener. The next test arrives on Thursday. The bigger one looms a fortnight beyond.
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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