breezed into the Queen's quarter-finals with a commanding 6-4 6-1 victory over Rebecca Sramkova at the celebrated Andy Murray Arena, and in doing so is set to reclaim her spot as British No.1. The triumphant 22-year-old will ascend to the top of British women's tennis on Monday, following current leader Katie Boulter's 2-6 6-3 6-2 loss against Russian ace Diana Shnaider in the second round, exactly two years after she first overtook Raducanu post her 2021 US Open win.
Raducanu is the sole Briton left in the prestigious new WTA 500 competition, with its hefty £1million prize fund, after her latest win. But she already has a target on her back with Boulter looking to reclaim top spot from her countrywoman. "It's nice (number one)," remarked Raducanu, who enjoyed a debut doubles partnership with Boulter at Queen's. "But I wouldn't say it's the most important thing for me.
"Having Katie in front it was nice for me to have something to chase, and now I'm sure she's going to enjoy that with me. The grass season is still young and so is the rest of the season. We have a healthy competition between us two. I want to see her do well, she wants to see me do well. It was nice to play doubles with her this week."
The debut women's event at Queen's - a historic first after a 52-year hiatus - coincides with Boulter dropping points as she was last year's Nottingham champion during the same week, an unfortunate scheduling that has opened the door for Raducanu to momentarily overtake her.
Boulter said she played "some of the best grass court tennis I have played" in her first set but was let down by her first serves in the next two, double-faulting nine times in the match.
She continued: "I'm very happy for (Raducanu) to be British number one 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 British, saw her run conclude at the last 16 with a 6-4 6-2 loss to former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed.
