Emma Raducanu's Queen's run ends at quarter-finals with defeat to Qinwen Zheng
Emma Raducanu's first Queen's campaign came to an end in the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 loss to Chinese top seed Qinwen Zheng at a scorching Andy Murray Arena.
The 22-year-old was the last Briton standing after Katie Boulter and Heather Watson both bowed out in the last 16 of the new WTA 500 event, also the first time Queen's has hosted women's tennis since 1973.
Raducanu will officially supplant Boulter as British number one on Monday and faced her toughest test yet in world number five and Olympic champion Zheng, who opened the match with a double fault and conceded the next point before bouncing back to hold.
The home favourite, buoyed by a very supportive crowd, saved three break points to hold in the fourth game and the set remained on serve until a topsy-turvy sixth when, just after Raducanu had saved a second break point at 40-30, there was a pause for Zheng to fix what the umpire called 'an issue with her shoes'.
Raducanu then could not close the game out when she had the advantage and Zheng sealed the first break of the contest at the fourth time of asking.
The Chinese competitor then saved two break points to hold before breaking the Briton once more to wrap up the first set.
Raducanu, who is still battling back issues, received treatment during the break.
The breeze began to pick up at the start of the second set as Zheng began to lose control over her first serves and gifted Raducanu a first break with a double fault to end the first game.
Raducanu made it a double-break advantage in the third game, but Zheng clawed one back immediately with her second opportunity in the next game and then brought the set back on serve in the eighth after Raducanu double faulted.
The Chinese challenger could sense she was closing in on the final four as she quickly wrapped up the next game to force the home favourite to serve to stay in the match.
Zheng quickly went 40-0 up, but three successive missed service returns left open the door for Raducanu to come back into the contest.
Zheng read the Briton's drop shot well to bring up match point number four and clinched her place in the semi-finals when Raducanu's return went long.
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