Emma Raducanu breezes into Queen's quarters after scare in front of Mark Petchey
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Emma Raducanu celebrated returning to British No.1 by romping into the quarter-finals of the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club.
And the former US Open champion is the last home player left in the singles draw in the first WTA 500 event in London for 52 years.
The Bromley-based star raced into a 5-0 lead against Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova and then won the first four games of the second before winning 6-4 6-1 in only 76 minutes in the Andy Murray Arena.
Watched from courtside by her coaches Mark Petchey and Nick Cavaday, Raducanu was fist pumping after hitting winners from the first game.
It was a very impressive display with Wimbledon just over a fortnight away.
She will meet the winner of the last 16 clash between Olympic champion and No.1 seed Qinwen Zheng and American world No.42 McCartney Kessler in the last eight.
Raducanu won her first grasscourt singles match of the season in the opening round against Spaniard Cristina Bucsa for the loss of only three games.
And she continued her momentum into the Sramkova match by breaking the Slovak, who was born with a condition that left her with little sight in her left eye, three times in the opening set.
At one point, the Brit won nine consecutive points. Raducanu had two set points on her own serve at 5-0 40-15, had two set points after only 22 minutes before Sramkova got one break back.
The Slovak world No.41 then broke again to get back to 5-4 before Raducanu, serving for the set for the third time, took her fourth set point after 41 minutes.
The second set followed a similar pattern as she led 4-0 before Sramkova got on the board. The Slovak saved one match point but Raducanu took the second when Sramkova’s forehand hit the net.
Raducanu was already guaranteed to overtake Katie Boulter in the rankings after the Leicester City fan lost to No.5 seed Diana Shnaider 2-6 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 55 minutes.
Boulter said: “Tennis is a funny one. You know, some people lose 250 points one week, some people lose zero, some people lose 100. It's something that happens every single week.
“I'm very well aware that I lost 250 this week, because Nottingham was next week and the scheduling's been different. Of course I personally want to be getting my ranking moving in the right direction. I'm very happy for her to be British No. 1.
“But at the same time, it's going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she's been doing that for a while. Now it's kind of my turn.”
Heather Watson also went out after losing 6-4 6-2 to former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
