Emma Raducanu admitted she was heartbroken after losing in doubles at the Queen’s Club Championships, where she partnered with fellow Brit Katie Boulter. The loss came just before Raducanu overtook Boulter as the British No. 1.
Following her win in the women’s singles on Tuesday, June 12, Raducanu is now set to reclaim the top spot in British tennis.
Emma Raducanu Claims Brit No. 1 Spot After 2 Years
Emma Raducanu is set to become the British No. 1 on Monday, having overtaken fellow Brit Katie Boulter. Following an impressive start at Queen’s, Raducanu secured a first-round victory over Spaniard Cristina Bucsa in straight sets. She then booked her place in the women’s singles quarterfinals with another straight-sets win, this time against Slovak player Rebecca Sramkova, 6-4, 6-1.
On the same day, Boulter made her exit from the WTA 500 tournament after a hard-fought three-set battle against Russian Diana Shnaider, losing 6-2, 3-6, 2-6. In the opening round, she had secured a win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
Emma Raducanu will become British No. 1 on Monday after Katie Boulter bowed out at Queen’s, with Raducanu into the quarter-finals after securing victory over Rebecca Sramkova 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/WlUfa2Hf6C
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) June 12, 2025
On Wednesday, June 11, the day before, British players Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter teamed up for the women’s doubles match.
Emma Raducanu Expresses Her Thoughts After Surpassing Katie Boulter as Brit No.1
During the post-match press conference, Emma Raducanu shared her thoughts on her doubles partner Katie Boulter, following their performance at the HSBC Championships. The pair teamed up for the doubles competition and delivered a convincing straight-sets victory, 6-4, 6-2, over the duo of Xinyu Jiang from China and Wu Fang-hsien of Taiwan.
In the quarterfinals, Raducanu and Boulter were defeated in straight sets, 2-6, 5-7, by New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok.
The interviewer asked Raducanu about the “Boulter Canu” chemistry and whether it might be affected now that she had just overtaken Boulter as the British No. 1.
Interviewer:
“Now, you wrote on the camera there, long live ‘Bolter Canu,’ but I’m afraid to say that you’ve actually just overtaken your teammate as a British number one for next week, and when the new rankings come out. She did say in a press conference, she’s looking forward to chasing you. So what’s your response to that? And long live Bolter Canu, is this carrying on?”
Raducanu responded promptly to the questions, clearly expressing her disappointment over their recent loss in the doubles match. She said:
“I mean, honestly, I think, you know, it was actually a real challenge for me today because, I mean, I’m not used to playing doubles, and I lost the match yesterday, and I was really upset, and I was, I really felt like I was out of the tournament.”
The former World No. 10 also mentioned that she’d like another chance to face Boulter on a grass court.
“So, to get myself kind of fired up for this one was really difficult. But I’m really happy to have kind of been able to get myself through this one. And yeah, I really want to play with Katie again in the future, and maybe over the grass, but for sure in the future,” Raducanu said.
On court interview pic.twitter.com/HRI5TyhBYr
— Raducanu News (@RaducanuNews) June 12, 2025
Raducanu is all set for her quarterfinal match at the Queen’s Club Championship 2025. She will face Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinal match at Andy Murray Arena on Friday, June 13.