Emma Raducanu Reaches Queen’s Club Final With Double Victory Saturday, Guaranteed Wimbledon Seeding Boost

Emma Raducanu will face Donna Vekic in the HSBC Championships final at Queen’s Club on Sunday after completing an extraordinary double-header on Saturday, winning two matches within the space of a single afternoon to secure her place in the showpiece event.

The British No 1 opened her day with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarter-finals, a match that was briefly interrupted when Raducanu slipped on the grass surface and required an off-court medical timeout. She returned to play with heavy strapping on her left thigh and completed the win to reach only her second semi-final at a professional grass-court event.

Just over three hours later, Raducanu was back on court against American teenager Iva Jovic and produced a commanding 6-2, 6-2 victory to the delight of a vocal home crowd. The world No 42 will now contest her third career tour-level final — having previously appeared in the 2021 US Open, which she won, and this year’s Transylvania Open, where she lost to Sorana Cirstea.

The run to the final carries significant implications beyond the tournament itself. Raducanu is now guaranteed to rise to at least world No 31 in the rankings, with a victory on Sunday pushing her into the top 30. The timing is critical: the top 32 players in the world receive seeded positions at Wimbledon, and Raducanu is not currently entered into any tournaments before the Grand Slam begins. A seeded berth at SW19 is therefore not yet confirmed, though her position has strengthened considerably this week.

Her form heading into Queen’s Club had been a concern. Raducanu had not won a match since the opening round of the Indian Wells Masters and had gone without back-to-back victories since February. At the French Open last month, she was beaten 6-0, 7-6(4) by Argentine Solana Sierra in the first round. Saturday’s double win represents a meaningful shift in momentum.

“Thanks for reminding me about that stat,” Raducanu said with a laugh during her on-court interview, when the recent run of results was raised. “I think this week has been incredible. I really enjoy playing here, and I think that really shows in my tennis and in how I’ve been able to compete and come through some really tough moments.”

She also paid tribute to the Queen’s Club crowd and acknowledged the difficult period her team has navigated in recent months. “It means everything for me to be doing it here at Queen’s in front of everyone,” she said. “The support today, the whole day, was electric, so thank you very much.”

“Me and my team over there have really stuck together through some tough moments over the last few months, when the results haven’t been going our way. But we’ve been putting in the work day in, day out, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them as well for helping me get into this position.”

Standing between Raducanu and the title is Croatia’s Donna Vekic, who dismantled fellow Briton Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-3 in just 67 minutes in the first semi-final. Vekic has not won a title since the 2023 Monterrey Open and has never met Raducanu in a singles match, meaning Sunday’s final will be the first encounter between the two players. Should Raducanu lift the trophy, it would mark her first title since her historic US Open triumph nearly four years ago.