Raducanu Loses Queen's Final to Lucky Loser Vekic
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- Donna Vekic defeated Emma Raducanu 6-0 7-6 (8-6) in the Queen's final, lifting the trophy as a lucky loser who entered the draw only after injured French Open semi-finalist Marta Kostyuk withdrew.
- Raducanu saved three championship points at 6-5 in the second set and a fourth in the tie-break, but sprayed a forehand wide on the fifth match point to hand Vekic the title.
- Raducanu appeared visibly hampered by a left leg issue, wearing strapping on her thigh after slipping during her quarter-final and playing two singles matches in one day due to rain disruption earlier in the week.
- The British number one will climb to the brink of the world's top 30 thanks to her Queen's run, which could be enough to earn her a seed at Wimbledon.
- Raducanu's 2025 season had been limited to just six matches from early February by a viral illness, making her run to a second final of the year — after Cluj in February — a marked return to form.
- Vekic, ranked 76th in the world and a 2023 Wimbledon semi-finalist, took the first set in under 30 minutes and weathered Raducanu's second-set rally to seal her first WTA title.
Why it matters: The Queen's ranking points push Raducanu within reach of a Wimbledon seed, a tangible win from a season that had been wrecked by viral illness. But the leg strapping, the baseline slip, and a double-match Saturday leave her physical readiness for the grass-court major uncertain, and her title drought since the 2021 US Open now stretches into a fifth year.
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