Katie Boulter has had precious few days to celebrate over the last 18 months but here was one she will carry with her for years to come.
As the day’s last light drained away from the Queen’s Club the 29-year-old slammed down one more big serve to take out world No2 and two-time Grand Slam champion Elena Rybakina. It was the win of her life, the biggest scalp she has ever taken, and to do it on home soil made it all the sweeter.
It was made even more impressive by the fact that it was her second win of the day after the rain crunched the schedule. She beat Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-3 in the morning, then 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the evening to reach the semi-finals of the HSBC Championships.
Having ridden her luck to win a first set in which she was second-best, by the end Boulter was comfortably the better player.
‘I feel like this win goes towards the crowd who stayed out here and got me through it,’ said the world No 73. ‘I’m so proud of myself for going for it, trusting my game and trusting my coaching team.’
Her ranking has been in decline since a 2024 season which saw her finish in the world’s top 25, but the potency of her serve and forehand mean she will always be a threat on grass.
Katie Boulter beat Elena Rybakina 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the Queen’s semi-finals
Boulter will today take on Donna Vekic for a place in the final. Also still in the draw is Emma Raducanu, but her position is more complex after she was once again embroiled in a scheduling snarl-up.
After Thursday’s play was completely washed out, Raducanu, like most of the field, was scheduled for two matches in a day.
But as Boulter’s match dragged into the evening yesterday, Raducanu was stranded and will have to return today and play a quarter-final followed by a potential semi-final.
It was all a bit of a mess. With a sunny day to catch up after all the rain this week, the HSBC Championships optimistically scheduled five matches on the main Andy Murray Arena. Raducanu won her first in brisk fashion, 6-4, 6-2 over world No18 Sorana Cirstea, but when three other matches went to a deciding set they ran out of time.
So to recap the Raducanu Odyssey: on Thursday she hung around all day waiting in vain for the rain to stop so she and Cirstea could get on. ‘I did six warm-ups,’ the 23-year-old said yesterday. ‘Also you don’t know what to eat. I chomped down four flapjacks instead of proper food so my stomach was definitely feeling it!’.
Then yesterday she was twiddling her thumbs for five hours after her match finished before once again being stood down.
She might have been best advised to go home, but instead headed for the clubhouse balcony to support Boulter.
And so today Raducanu must come out and face Uzbek qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova then, if she wins that as she ought, return to play 18-year-old prodigy Iva Jovic in the semis. That is a daunting task at the best of times, but the American would have the huge advantage of having had the early part of the day to relax and recover.
Boulter produced the performance of her life to beat the 2022 Wimbledon champion
The obvious move would appear to have been to switch Raducanu over to Court 1. The problem is the BBC are not set up to broadcast the outside courts, so it would have been less than ideal having the event’s biggest star in a terrestrial TV deadzone. There was also the logistical issue of the inevitable rush of Pimmsed-up patrons on to the unticketed Court 1.
Also, the timings were made tighter by the fact that electronic line calling technology ceases to function when the light starts to fade, even when it is still bright enough for tennis.
A daunting day ahead, then, for Raducanu, but an all-British final at Queen’s is still possible.
Harriet Dart, the third Brit in action yesterday after Boulter and Raducanu, broke down in tears after her narrow loss to Rakhimova.
The 29-year-old had treatment to her neck during a 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 defeat but insisted her tears were down to the emotion of the match, rather than any injury fears.
