Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter live: Tennis scores from Queen’s Club doubles match

The players are walking out on court and should be underway fairly shortly.

It’s an overcast day in west London, but fortunately dry, with a chance of the sun peeking out later. Both Brits are in long sleeves with their opponents much more tropically dressed!

In case you missed it, a certain legend of British tennis was on hand at the start of this week to inaugurate the first women’s tournament in more than half a century at Queen’s:

Two weeks on from Rafael Nadal’s triumphant return to Roland-Garros, another grand slam champion returned to the site of his greatest success.

Andy Murray’s return to Queen’s Club, where he won a record five titles, was much more low-key. There was no emotional speech, just some banter about his growing prowess at golf; a brief knockabout with tournament director and former doubles partner Laura Robson, and two youth ambassadors, 10-year-old Gloria and seven-year-old Jay, instead of a photo opportunity with the rest of the ‘Big Four’. “My tennis is diabolical nowadays,” he joked, “apologies for what you’re about to witness!”

“This tournament and this court has had many special moments for me,” he added. “It was my most successful event, I always loved coming back. I’m very grateful for whoever it was who decided to name the stadium!”

For a venue steeped in pomp and splendour – an old-school members’ spot constantly eyeing ways to refresh – there is something new coming this week at Queen’s Club. For the first time in 52 years, the women take centre stage on the pristine grass courts in the high-flying west London neighbourhood.

The last time a women’s event was played at Queen’s, under the title of the 1973 London Grass Court Championships, Russian player Olga Morozova won the singles title. And a matter of months before she won the famous “Battle of the Sexes” contest against Bobby Riggs in Houston, which catapulted women’s tennis into the mainstream, Billie Jean King won the doubles at Queen’s alongside fellow American Rosie Casals.

Times have clearly changed, but the sprinkling of top-tier stardust has not. For tournament director Laura Robson, the former world No 27 and Wimbledon junior champion, attracting the biggest names in the game was a process which started last year. Australian Open champion and close friend Madison Keys has clearly spread the word, with 10 of the world’s top-20 signing up to play.

Boulter had a tougher day of it yesterday but made it four Brits into the second round, after wins for Sonay Kartal and Heather Watson earlier.

The British No 1 battled through her grass court singles season opener to claim a 7-6 (4) 1-6 6-4 victory over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic.

Emma Raducanu got her singles campaign underway yesterday with a straightforward win over Cristina Bucsa. Here’s what Kieran Jackson had to say on the encounter:

As starts to the British summer go, it doesn’t get much better than an hour in-and-out under the west London sun. Refreshed and rejuvenated after a two-week break following the French Open – and a thrashing at the hands of Iga Swiatek – Emma Raducanu has all her sights set on a prosperous month with the pristine grass under her feet. And here at Queen’s Club, sporting a claret outfit, she did not let slip a purple patch on court.

Will there be bigger tests than world No 112 Cristina Bucsa? Of course. A fortuitous draw still needs capitalising on, though, and Raducanu excelled and looked supremely at home in a 6-1, 6-2 demolition job. Yet, most strikingly of all, in a year which included a horrendous stalking ordeal, was how much she seemed to enjoy the limelight once again.

Boulter and Raducanu’s doubles partnership – Boultercanu, perhaps? – got off to a flying start with an impressive win in the first round on Monday. Here’s a run-down of what happened:

Spectators had been queuing for an hour outside Court One in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu. One immaculately-dressed lady, a parody of Queen’s genteel West Kensington surroundings, complained that she had bought tickets for the Andy Murray Arena in the expectation that Britain’s top two female singles players would be in action there, and seemed baffled that she couldn’t access the smaller court they had in fact been assigned.

Those who had secured tickets for the small, intimate Court One enjoyed the sight of a fired-up Raducanu and Boulter securing their first win of the grass-court season, and their first as a somewhat surprising doubles pairing. The pair beat doubles specialists Xinyu Jiang of China and Fang-Hsien Wu of Taiwan 6-4, 6-2, in a match that was a fascinating insight into both players’ attitude at the start of the swing.

Viewers in the UK can watch main court action at Queen’s, on the Andy Murray Arena, on the BBC, with coverage running from 1pm on BBC Two.

The action will also be streamed live on BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button or BBC Sport.

Only matches on Andy Murray Arena are televised by the BBC, meaning Raducanu and Boulter’s doubles match on Court One will not be streamed live.

The women’s tournament runs from Monday, 9 June to Sunday, 16 June, with the men’s tournament running the following week.

Over on Andy Murray Arena, third seed Emma Navarro takes on Beatriz Haddad Maia at 1pm, with Britain’s No 3 Sonay Kartal facing eighth seed Amanda Anisimova after that match concludes.

The final singles match of the day will see qualifier Anastasia Zakharova – who upset defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round – play Australian Open champion and second seed Madison Keys.

Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter take on Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe at 12pm on Court One, the first match today.

They are followed by sixth seed Karolina Muchova against Tatjana Maria, with another doubles match on after that: Cristina Bucsa and Beatriz Haddad Maia against the Kazakh pair of Yulia Putintseva and Elena Rybakina.

There’s another Brit in action in doubles too: specialist Olivia Nicholls and partner Tereza Mihalikova play Ellen Perez and Shuai Zhang first up on court five, from 12pm.

Hello and welcome to day three at Queen’s Club!

Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter kick off the action with the first match of the day in their second-round doubles match, beginning at 12pm.

Later on, Sonay Kartal will bid to earn another top-20 scalp after defeating Daria Kasatkina on Monday: she takes on Amanda Anisimova later this afternoon.