Raducanu recovers poise to reign as British No 1 after two-year wait

Second-round victory means the 22-year-old leapfrogs her doubles partner Katie Boulter

- Tumaini Carayol

Emma Raducanu will regain her status as the best female player in Britain for the first time in two years after she continued her solid start to the grass-court season by defeating Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals at Queen's.

Raducanu, who now sits at world No 35 in the live rankings, will return to British No 1 next week after Katie Boulter fell to the fifth seed, Diana Shnaider, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 yesterday. Raducanu has not been the highest-ranked player in the country since June 2023 when she was recovering from surgeries to her wrists and ankle. She missed a total of eight months in 2023 and consequently fell out of the top 300.

"It's nice, but I wouldn't say it's the most important thing for me," said Raducanu. "Having Katie in front, it was nice for me to have something to chase. 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. But regardless, 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 also play doubles with her this week."