‘Nervous' Emma Raducanu enjoys win with Katie Boulter in rare doubles outing
Emma Raducanu confessed she was 'very nervous' before making her Queen's Club debut with doubles partner Katie Boulter after the British pair secured a 6-4 6-2 victory over Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu.
Raducanu had before this played doubles just once, partnering Clara Tauson in round one of the 2022 Washington Open, and alongside Boulter was fully backed by the home crowd on the packed and more intimate Court One.
The WTA 500 event marks the first time in 52 years Queen's has hosted women's tennis, and while the pairing of British number one Boulter and number two Raducanu were not quite ready to submit their entries to Wimbledon, there were hugs and fist-pumps aplenty as they got their grass court seasons underway.
'I was actually very nervous before the match,' said 2021 US Open champion Raducanu, who has drawn a to be determined qualifier for her opening singles match. 'I don't know if you could tell, but, yeah, probably more nervous than the singles, because I just didn't necessarily know what to do.
'I'm really happy once we got out there, Katie made me feel so comfortable, and I'm just so pleased to get a win.'
This Queen's partnership, Raducanu revealed, came 'spontaneously', after a few close calls where she and Boulter nearly joined forces at Madrid, Paris and Miami.
Asked it could extend as far as Wimbledon, Raducanu replied: 'We haven't spoken about it. It worked pretty well, so we're just going to keep on trying to do as best we can this week.'
Boulter joked: 'Scrap what she said – we're going for the Wimbledon title! No, I'm just kidding.'
The British pair claimed an early break in the first set and extended their lead to 4-2 before Wu and Jiang drew level at 4-4.
Boulter and Raducanu broke back and eventually claimed the opening set, converting their second set point.
Momentum in their favour, the Britons made quicker work of the pair from China and Chinese Taipei in the second set, sealed emphatically by Raducanu's volley.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
England complete T20 series clean sweep to continue Harry Brook's winning start
Harry Brook made it six of the best as England's white-ball captain, wrapping up a second series sweep over the West Indies with a 37-run win Southampton. Having whitewashed the tourists 3-0 in the ODIs, Brook's men did it again in the T20 leg to cap a triumphant start for the new limited-overs skipper. The tone was set with a breakneck opening partnership of 120 in just 8.5 overs between Jamie Smith (60) and Ben Duckett (84), paving the way for a towering total of 248 for three – equalling the record score on English soil. The tourists never got to grips with a chase of that magnitude but still made 211 for eight, Rovman Powell's unbeaten 79 coming too late to make a difference. With the series already secure, England had nothing to lose and their top-order pair batted with abandon in a powerplay that brought 83 wicketless runs. Duckett was a bundle of energy at the crease, skipping around and stepping inside the line to cue up a vast array of strokes. The bowlers struggled to find a safe area to bowl and captain Shai Hope could not plug enough gaps in the field as Duckett reversed his hands, stepped outside off to open up square leg and carved anything short over the in-field. When Alzarri Joseph tried to sharpen him up with a first-ball bouncer, he casually swatted it for six. Smith's tactics were more streamlined but no less effective, with an emphasis on big, bludgeoned shots down the ground. Duckett won the half-century sprint, bringing it up off just 20 balls, but Smith was just a couple behind. He hurried to his first T20 fifty for England with three sixes in four balls off an outmatched Romario Shepherd, with one particularly dazzling blow on the up over extra cover. His attack ended after 26 brutal balls when he leaned back and hit Gudakesh Motie to Shimron Hetmyer on the boundary, for once lacking distance. Smith was only given his chance at the top of the order due to Phil Salt's paternity leave, but the role already feels like his to lose. The reward for removing him was the arrival of the series top run-scorer, Jos Buttler, who announced himself by rocking back and hammering Joseph over the crowd and into the concourse in front of the fast-food vans. Buttler perished after skying a wide ball from Sherfane Rutherford and Duckett saw a first century evade him when he lost his leg stump to Akeal Hosein, but the runs kept flowing. Brook hit 35no, including eight off the last two balls to level Australia's record score at the same ground in 2013, while Jacob Bethell produced another electric cameo worth 36no from only 16 balls. That included three mighty sixes in succession off Motie and a wonderfully inventive reverse flick to deep third. It looked a tall order for an brow-beaten West Indies and so it proved, Luke Wood and Liam Dawson taking care of the openers Evin Lewis and Johnson Charles in single figures. Hetmyer smashed three sixes as he burned brightly and briefly, attempting a fourth off Bethell's left-arm spin but finding the fielder. Hope went down fighting with 45 before being bounced out by Brydon Carse and Powell took a hefty chunk out of the winning margin, but the chase never quite caught fire. Rutherford and Shepherd mustered one run between them as Adil Rashid spun out both, with Wood returning to pick up two more late wickets at the death.
Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
England player ratings: Kyle Walker cannot go to World Cup after that display
This had to be much better than the Andorra game, right? Wrong. Thomas Tuchel's England team were booed off yet again after his players produced an insipid performance at home to Senegal. Subs not used Jordan Pickford, Reece James, Ezri Konsa, Jordan Henderson, Dan Burn, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, James Trafford.
The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
Roy Keane slams ‘LAZY' Kyle Walker for role in Senegal goal vs England as ITV star says ‘can't make mistakes like that'
KYLE WALKER was slammed as "lazy" by Roy Keane for his role in Senegal's equaliser against England. The defender was caught on his heels as Ismaila Sarr reacted quickest to poke in Nicolas Jackson's cross. 2 Walker was beaten to the ball after reacting slowly, leaving pundit Keane unimpressed. The Manchester United legend tore into the right-back during half-time of ITV 's coverage of the match. He said: "If this is a young right-back starting out in the game you're thinking inexperience. "I think he has been lazy. He is a vastly experienced defender and he doesn't bother getting back in. You tell defenders get back in! "He's just on his heels and he almost can't be bothered getting back. "I know he's had a difficult few months but for a vastly experienced player you can't be making mistakes like that. Ian Wright supported his colleague's view, adding: "If Kyle gets in there, he probably clears that." It was the first goal England conceded under Thomas Tuchel, who faced his first real test in Senegal at the City Ground. The Three Lions opened the lead through Harry Kane before Sarr's equaliser. Their defending did not improve after the break however with a long ball over the top exposing Myles Lewis-Skelly and Levi Colwill. Habib Diarra strolled in down the right flank and was not closed down quickly enough, allowing him to stride into the box to score at the near post. Things went from bad to worse for England as a Jude Bellingham goal was ruled out before Cheikh Sabaly added a third.
