Emma Raducanu will become British No 1 on Monday after Katie Boulter bowed out at Queen’s with a 2-6 6-3 6-2 second-round defeat to Russian fifth-seed Diana Shnaider.
Boulter, who replaced 2021 US Open winner Raducanu in the top spot exactly two years ago, looked sharp in her first set, saving two break points, breaking the Russian’s serve twice, and hitting 10 winners.
The first-serve issues that had plagued Boulter in her gritty victory over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic on Monday also looked to have largely been resolved after she landed close to 75 per cent in the opening set.
They returned at the start of Boulter’s first service game in the second, when she twice double-faulted to allow Shnaider to find her way back from 40-0 down and break the Briton’s serve, and did so again after a 15-minute rain delay in the sixth game to take a 5-1 advantage.
Boulter broke straight back and saved a set point to hold the next game, but could not claw her way to a comeback as Shnaider forced the deciding set.
It began with another Boulter double-fault, but the Briton was able to claw her way back from 40-0 down to hold.
Two more double-faults in the third game – Boulter ultimately tallied a total of nine in the match – opened the door for Shnaider to break Boulter’s serve, doing so again in the seventh to set herself up to serve for the set and seal her place in the quarter-finals.
Shnaider begged the British crowd for forgiveness after knocking out the home favourite at the Andy Murray Arena.
“I definitely want to first apologise to the crowd,” the 21-year-old said on court.
“I mean, Katie is such a lovely person, I love her with all my heart, so to play her and beat her in front of a home crowd I feel so sorry, but I hope you’re not going to hate me too much and come support me tomorrow.”
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