No wonder Emma Raducanu started off her second-round contest at Queen’s in a blaze of glory. Like a firecracker, ready to ignite, eager to land in Friday’s quarter-finals.
A few hours earlier, the 22-year-old learned that, when the new WTA rankings are released on Monday, she will be back as British No 1. Raducanu will replace Katie Boulter, her “BoulterCanu” doubles partner this week, at the top of British women’s tennis. A blessing or a curse? Either way, it’s all just in time for all the hoopla and hype of Wimbledon in a few weeks.
Yet to Thursday and west London, where she still had matters to attend to on-court in the form of Slovak world No 41 Rebecca Sramkova, who is four places below her in the current world rankings. And, in essence, what the near sellout crowd were greeted to was a 76-minute sampler of what makes Raducanu such a thrilling prospect on the grass. Thrilling, and baffling, in somewhat equal measure.
The good? A scintillating opening 20 minutes, steamrolling to a 5-0 lead, middling every shot and taking authoritative control of every rally. There was, undoubtedly, oomph in her movement and persona. But, the bad? In an instant, she lost her mojo, was broken twice, and ultimately only squeezed to the first-set finish line. It was the sort of 15-minute blip she can ill-afford if she wants to make progress deep in tournaments this summer. Fortunately, the second set was more routine as Sramkova lost her way, and a 6-4 6-1 victory in the end was just reward for a lightning quick start.
“Long live BoulterCanu,” she wrote on the courtside camera, a nod to her doubles partnership this week and a close-knit group of British women at the top of the game currently.
“It’s nice, but it’s not the most important thing for me,” she said afterwards, questioned about the No 1 spot. “Having Katie in front, it was nice having something to chase. She now has that. We have a healthy competition between us, but we want to see each other do well.”
Up until that point, it had been a tough day for the Brits on day four. Boulter, who has held the British No 1 tag for exactly two years, started strongly against world No 10 Diana Shnaider by taking the opening set, describing it later as her “best tennis of the week”.
But the match quickly turned in the Russian’s favour, particularly after a brief rain break halfway through the second set. In the end, Shnaider romped home to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory to set up a clash with Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the last eight. Boulter, understandably for a match which seemed well within her grasp, was exasperated by the end.
