Emma Raducanu breaks little-known rule as she crashes out of Queen’s – while her opponent draws BOOS from the crowd for her behaviour
Emma Raducanu broke a niche rule at Queen’s during her quarter-final defeat by Qinwen Zheng on Friday.
The newly minted British No 1 lost 6-2, 6-4 to Zheng, the world No 5 and the tournament’s No 1 seed.
Raducanu, who had beat Cristina Bucsa and Rebecca Sramkova in straight sets to reach the last eight, admitted she had ‘a lot of work to do’ ahead of Wimbledon.
She also left the court briefly for treatment on her recurring back problem and said it had been a struggle to manage the pain.
And she also tested the audience’s knowledge of a little-known rule as her opponent changed her shoes and orthotics in the first set.
Zheng was booed by the crowd as the wait dragged on and Raducanu fired off a practice serve – something she was not technically allowed to do, although the umpire did not punish her for it.
Emma Raducanu broke a niche rule during her Queen’s quarter-final loss to Qinwen Zheng
The British No 1 practiced serving while Zheng changed her shoes – something she was not technically supposed to do
Zheng (pictured), the tournament number one, won in straight sets to reach the semi-finals
Practice serves are only permitted in the pre-match warm-up.
‘I don’t know if Raducanu is meant to hit a ball like that,’ said BBC commentator and former WTA star Annabel Croft.
‘She’s just practiced a serve and normally you’re not meant to do that.’
Raducanu will be hoping her preparations help her put in another impressive Wimbledon showing after she reached the fourth round last year.
She teamed up with fellow Brit Katie Boulter for the women’s doubles event at Queen’s and reached the second round with her.
The duo, dubbed ‘Boultercanu,’ won their first match against Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu 6-4, 6-2 on Monday afternoon.
But after being drawn against the first seeds Erin Routliffe and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the second-round, the pair’s journey through the tournament came to an abrupt end in their 6-2, 7-5 defeat.
Raducanu was keen to share her delight in the future of the partnership, writing ‘long live Boultercanu’ on the camera after her straight-sets win against Sramkova.
Raducanu and Katie Boulter could yet partner up on the court again in the near future
She had never won a doubles match – and only played the format once before on the tour – before reaching the second round with Boulter
Raducanu wrote ‘long live Boultercanu’ on a camera after beating Rebecca Sramkova that day
‘Honestly, it was actually a real challenge for me today, because I’m not used to playing doubles, and I lost the match yesterday, and I was really upset, and I really felt like I was out of this tournament,’ Raducanu said after the match.
‘So to get myself fired up for this one was really difficult, but I’m really happy to have been able to get myself through this one.
‘I really want to play with Katie again in the future, and maybe over the grass, but for sure, in the future.’
