Ruthless Raducanu powers into Queen's final
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- Emma Raducanu won two matches in a day at Queen's Club, beating Kamilla Rakhimova 6-3 7-5 in a weather-delayed quarter-final and American teenager Iva Jovic 6-2 6-2 in the semi-final to reach her first grass-court final.
- Raducanu did not drop a set during the tournament and defeated two players ranked in the world's top 20, a run that strengthens her case to be seeded at Wimbledon, which begins 29 June.
- Donna Vekic awaits in Sunday's final after the world number 76 beat British number three Katie Boulter 6-1 6-3 in 66 minutes in the other semi-final.
- Raducanu rehired coach Andrew Richardson in May — the coach who guided her to the 2021 US Open title — after a season disrupted by illness and injury left her ranked 42nd in the world.
- Raducanu overcame a left-thigh injury scare from a slip on the grass in her quarter-final, playing the semi-final with strapping but showing no lingering trouble as she broke Jovic early in both sets.
- Annabel Croft told BBC TV she had not seen Raducanu strike the ball that well since her 2021 US Open win, while Raducanu herself pushed back on a return-to-form narrative: 'I wouldn't say it's necessarily the old Emma, I think it's the new Emma.'
Why it matters: A Queen's title on Sunday would be Raducanu's first trophy since her shock 2021 US Open and her first on grass, and a strong showing lifts her from her current world ranking of 42 into the seeded tier at Wimbledon — a seeding cutoff that puts higher-ranked opponents out of her early-round path at a Grand Slam starting 29 June.
