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Raducanu beats Cirstea to book place in the quarter finals
Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter will both play twice in one day at Queen’s after the two British hopes recorded impressive victories to reach the quarter-finals.
Raducanu achieved her first win against a top-20 opponent in over a year by eliminating Romanian world number 18 Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2.
It was a significant win for Raducanu against an opponent who thrashed her in the Transylvania Open final in February - and the 23-year-old had not won back-to-back matches since that tournament four months ago.
The former US Open champion will face Kamilla Rakhimova for a place in the semi-finals after the Russian-born Uzbek beat Britain’s Harriet Dart 5-7 6-1 7-5 following almost three hours on court.
Boulter reached the last eight with a 6-1 6-3 victory over world number 38 Jaqueline Cristian.
The 29-year-old took just 67 minutes to see off Cristian and set up a meeting with top seed Elena Rybakina.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, from Kazakhstan, battled back to defeat defending champion Tatjana Maria 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-0 after two hours and 10 minutes.
No play was possible at Queen’s on Thursday because of rain, meaning all four quarter-finals have to be played on Friday.
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Raducanu’s reaction to booking her place in the quarter-finals
This was another impressive win for Raducanu, whose opening victory back on home soil against Anna Blinkova was her first win since Indian Wells in March.
The British number one’s season has since been disrupted by a post-viral illness that kept her off the WTA Tour for more than two months, and she lost her only two matches on her return - in Strasbourg and at the French Open – prior to this tournament.
Raducanu was comprehensively beaten by Cirstea in February, losing 6-0 6-2 in the Romanian’s homeland, but was quick to assert herself as she produced another encouraging display in front of her home crowd in London.
Racing into a 4-0 lead, Raducanu held firm after Cirstea pulled one break back in the first set, before taking her two break point opportunities in the second and serving out the match untroubled.
“It feels incredible to come out and play how I did today against Sorana. Earlier in the year she beat me, but I’m really glad I could get her back at home,” Raducanu said.
“I think I played at a really high level, I knew I had to go out and play aggressively and dictate.
“As soon as I took my foot off the gas a little bit, she was coming back.”
Elsewhere, Canada’s world number nine Victoria Mboko has withdrawn from Wimbledon after badly injuring her knee at Queen’s on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old partnered American great Serena Williams on her return to action in the doubles competition on Tuesday, beating third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.
But, during her singles match against Karolina Pliskova the following day, Mboko was forced to retire when trailing 6-2 3-4 after slipping on the grass.
Mboko said in a post on Instagram that she had damaged her medial collateral ligament (MCL) in her left knee.
“Thank you Serena Williams for giving me this incredible opportunity to play alongside you,” she wrote.
“I learnt so much from you and am so sorry our tournament came to an end prematurely, but I hope we can play together again soon and finish what we started.”
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Source: BBC News
